1. Repeal the authority of the governor’s power to grant clemency in the State of California.
2. Create a new clemency law that supersedes all known and unknown laws in the State of California dealing with clemency. Under this new clemency law a new clemency board shall be created to handle all requests for clemency in California. At least one mini clemency board shall be established in every county in the State of California to handle considerations for clemency do to possible injustice on the part of the State, including prison overcrowding. Five citizens who reside in the county where the inmate was convicted will judge cases only from that same county. If these citizens agree to sit on a clemency board for up to one week (or longer if agreed) they will be paid for their services the sum of $100.00 a day. By random selection using current voter rolls in their county board members will be pre screened before sitting on any panel. The board members will review inmate request for clemency. While in session, they may review many request for that week’s session. Private Citizens, prisoner rights groups and professionals in the field may also petition the board on behalf of an inmate. The citizens of the California Clemency Board will have the power to release any qualified prisoner (once every seven years per individual) reduce his or her sentence or do nothing when the board rules that the prisoner was not unjustly treated by the prison system or judicial process. The California Clemency Board will also have the power to grant clemency for humanitarian reasons and release nonviolent prisoners under established guidelines when prison overcrowding is at unsafe levels. Any county who receives a clemency release shall also receive from the prison budget the sum of $8,000.00 or 1/6 the current California prison incarceration rate per release for rehabilitation services. The county must have State approved rehabilitation services in place to receive these prison budget funds. And the released must register with the county rehab within 30 days of release.
3. Create a State elected administrator to handle the financial responsibilities of the board, ensure that prisoner request are delivered to the county level in a timely manner and make rulings on fairness or fraud in the clemency board. THE CITIZENS OF THE CALIFORNIA CLEMENCY BOARD AND NOT THE ELECTED OFFICIAL WILL HAVE THE FINAL SAY ON CLEMENCY.

Special note:
California Clemency Boards is not a get out of jail free card for those bent on committing crime and has many safe guards to prevent abuse of this new clemency process.

On August 4, 2009 a 3 judge panel in a federal court ruled the State of California has 45 days to come up with a plan to release 44,000 prisoners from California’s overcrowded prison system.

While listening to a PBS station earlier this week I learned that the State of California is going to offer up last Friday’s passed prison bill as the solution. If this is true then someone should go to jail for contempt. The deadline is Friday, September 18, 2009 and this Senate bill does not come close especially if you’re trying to pull a fast one over on these 3 judges.

The bill passed last week by the Senate offers no relief to this problem. California releases more than 10,000 prisoners a month already according to the Attorney General’s Office. Nowhere in the bill does it address serious measures for keeping people out of prison. It only tweaks technicalities that can send a person back to prison. This bill also calls for allowing 17,000 of our most healthy prisoners to be released but the Senate rejected a plan to release 6,300 of our most infirm or elderly prisoners which makes little sense when you cry “Public Safety.”

We can safely release 44,000 prisoners in two years as this federal court ruled we must do due to prison overcrowding and health conditions. The math works out to be on average 379 prisoners to each of the 58 counties in California at a rate of 32 prisoners each month to those counties in two years equals about 44,544. And since studies have shown that more than half of those incarcerated in our prison system are nonviolent we can also sleep at night.

Lawmakers must first make the release of prisoner easy to understand. Because the easier it is to understand the better chance you have that the convicted felon would follow it.

Lawmakers must be willing to offer an incentive that only a fool would pass up. Offer a full pardon if the released inmate stays out of any United States prison system for 3, 4 or 5 years, depending on their prison record. This is an incentive that is sure to get the attention of anyone who realizes they made a mistake and here is the best way to prove their remorse. Extend this offer to those currently on parole and watch the rate of returning offender drop. Now no one in their right mind would make this offer to a murderer or sex offender but even they will be released and should be offered some kind of incentive not to re-offend.

Finally but most important the State of California must offer a sum of $8,000.00 going directly to the county (must have State approved services in place) for each prisoner it receives from this release for rehabilitation services only. No release of thousands of inmates without rehabilitation services will succeed.

If that is too radical and we don’t want to spend $352,000,000 on these released inmate’s rehabilitation services then we can simply forget it.

Simply put, prisoners don’t need assistance in going back to prison they need assistance in staying out of prison.

According to an article I read in AlterNet, Montel Johnson is wanted by the State of California.

Montel Johnson requires "total care," according to a court statement submitted this summer by Chicago neurologist Dr. Norman Kohn. "He is severely impaired in speech and communication. His speech is almost unintelligible," the statement reads. "He relies on his mother for communication and decision-making." Indeed, his mother has worked out a system in which she goes through the alphabet and he opens and closes his eyes to try to signal the words he is trying to say. She says she is the only person patient enough to walk him through the process.

Despite all this, California officials are pressing forward to take him back -- and the state of Illinois is cooperating. According to a sworn affidavit by the Chief Legal Counsel for the Illinois Department of Corrections, an "air ambulance company" has already been contacted to arrange the transfer of Johnson to California. On August 5, Judith Harper, Assistant Chief Counsel for the CDCR wrote to James Doran, a lawyer in the Illinois Attorney General's office, to "confirm our conversation this morning" that the CDCR "is expecting that [Johnson] will be returned to California to serve out the sentence imposed on him here."

The California Senate on Friday September 11, 2009 passed a bill that would release 17,000 of the State’s most healthy convicted felons and rejected a plan to release 6,300 of its most infirmed and elderly convicted felons.

I sure would like someone to try and defend these two dumb moves by California officials.

It is not clear if the California authorities have brought Johnson back to California yet. Of course his mother has gone to court to block it but I have not herd any more on this story.

If you would like to read the full story on Montel Johnson web search www.alternet.org

California Clemency Boards was designed to be the answer against injustice in our court system. In California this could include “3 Strikes” laws that incarcerate petty criminals for 25 years before they are even eligible for parole. Though it is called California Clemency this new clemency process can be modified for all states and federal use.

The most powerful tool in criminal justice is clemency (mercy) because once it is granted no one can overturn it. This law mostly heard of when used for a “Presidential pardon” needs a 21st century amendment on a state by state level as well as for federal use to ensure that politics are removed from all justice proceedings.

The greatest system of justice sometimes goes too far and it is partly to blame for prison overcrowding. There are too many cases where a man was released from prison after serving 10, 15 or 20 years for a crime he did not commit. The many years is due to the appeals process that I support 100%. But the Supreme Court ruling to uphold a 26 year to life sentence for California inmate, Santos Reyes convicted under the 3 Strikes law for cheating on a driving test made it clear that a better tool for balancing justice is needed.

With the availability of 21st century technology (DNA) it is easier to determine if a person is innocent or guilty so the need for lawyers to maneuver around the many layers and years of the appeals process can be eliminated. And in the case of Reyes a new clemency law would prevent over zealous prosecutions. With the understanding that petty convictions connected to long sentences would automatically end up being tossed out in a clemency board review these petty prosecutions would drop to zero.

Our19st century justice needs to catch up with 21st century technology. This is possible by a constitutional amendment that takes clemency powers from the government and gives that power to the people.

By having a panel of 5 average citizens (pre-screened similar to a jury) assemble in the same county where the convicted received his or her sentence they can rule to overturn the conviction when a legitimate request for clemency is made. Legitimate claims include prison overcrowding. But one has to qualify before being able to request clemency by having a good prison conduct report.

California Clemency is in no way a "Get out of jail free card" for those bent on committing crimes. And its many safeguards prevent abuse of this new clemency process.

California Clemency has many benefits and the only negative is the fact that no one can be sure who is likely to commit a horrible crime once released. But this is true with any prisoner release. The new clemency system benefit I like most however, is the benefit that a person released by a California clemency board can earn a full pardon from all California convictions after many years of not returning to any United States prison system. It is the answer to the familiar saying, “No one will hire me with my record.”

CONTACT:
Allen Jones
jones-allen@att.net
(415) 756-7733