Author: Jessica Stevens
Meet Calvin, a Freemont, California native serving 75 years to life for non-violent, unarmed robbery. Or take the case of Rene Landa, another of the 4,2000 non-violent prisoners serving life sentences under California’s Three Strikes Law, who received a minimum 27 years for stealing a spare tire. Members of Families to Amend California’s Three Strikes (FACTS) visited Occidental on Wednesday, April 9 to discuss ending these types of mandatory prison sentences and rally support for the Three Strikes Reform Act of 2008 that the organization hopes to place on the ballot this November.
The group was established in 1996 by wives and family members of those serving time in the California State Prison system for a third strike. Founder Geri Silva said the organization intends to “make a political statement about all the men of color that are being railroaded through the prison system.” Three strikes laws traditionally fall under habitual offender legislation passed by numerous state governments and establish minimum sentences for persons convicted of criminal offenses on three or more occasions.
However, Silva said persons of color suffer disproportionately from three strikes laws and consistently are denied equal access to California’s courts system. “The passage of three strikes was a huge shock, and now kids in the neighborhood are getting 25 years for shoplifting? We need to stop this from happening,” Silva said.
The FACTS proposal-which intends to allow thousands of people serving life sentences for petty offenses to be re-sentenced-would disqualify third strike prisoners whose prior convictions included murder, rape or child molestation. The act specifies that prisoners would be re-sentenced at twice the term otherwise provided for their particular offense, rather than the minimum of 25 years to life they are currently serving.
Silva cited a US Department of Justice report that California, which is the only state aggressively implementing the three strikes law, has shown no superior reduction in crime rates. “How could you pass something so atrocious into law,” Silva said. Other participants said the report came as no surprise. “The prison system is not for rehabilitation, trust me,” FACTS Treasurer Carmen Ewell said. “The prison industry is nothing but a business for a whole bunch of private companies.” A member since her husband’s incarceration under the three strikes law for passing a bad check in 1997, Ewell said that these laws unfairly “tie prisoners down and always keep them one under.”
Advocating for greater education funding and sufficient health care instead of building new prisons, Silva faulted lawmakers on both ends of the political spectrum for bowing to the interests of California’s Prison Guards Union. “What better way to invest money, since if you build them, you have to fill [the prisons],” Silva said.
“Like Angela Davis said, [the prison] industry is a punishment industry,” Silva said. “That is the context from which three strikes grew, given birth from the drive for greater and greater profit.”
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