Reply: waar #3
Public Safety and Fiscal Responsibility
P.O. Box 277, Rancho Cordova, CA 95741
lifesupportalliance@gmail.com

Life Support Alliance
June 2019 - LIFER-LINE - Vol. 10 ISSUE 6
The newsletter of life support alliance, copyright LSA, 2019

BTB: FYI

For the curious minded watching the next couple years as I acclimate to the new idea that there is a possibility toward parole.

FIRST TAKE ON THE NEW GOVERNOR

In mid-June LSA met with the representatives of Governor Newsom's legal staff to discuss several areas of interest and impact to lifers, including the numerous reversals and referrals to en banc in the early months of his administration. The Governor's staff, recruited from many venues and areas of the nation, are settling into both their respective offices and the peculiarities of California law, including laws pertaining to parole and corrections. The discussions were extensive and cordial. All indications are that the initial spate of adverse actions was something of an anomaly and Newsom's intent is to be progressive in all areas, including corrections and prisons.

Three major take-aways from the 90+ minute meeting:

1. If you have applied for commutation of sentence in the last 2 years and have not been notified of the outcome of your petition, you MUST submit the 1-page re-application form to keep that request open.

2. Expect to see the level and number of reversals and referrals slow down as everyone catches their collective breath and finds their pace.

3. This future administration is interested in communication and information and plans were laid for future meetings between the Governor's staff and LSA.

Staff members told us Gov Newsom is open to the communication process and they continue to review and process applications. Despite a vigorous push in the end months of Governor Brown's ministration many commutation petitions remain unreconciled. For those who have filed a commutation petition in the past 2-3 years and have not notified of the outcome or contacted by investigators know that the petition is considered closed, but not denied.

To re-open the consideration of this request prisoners must file a 1-page re-application form, available on Governor Newson's website. When we brought it to the attention of staff that these forms are not readily available to prisoners, either via the law library in most prisons or through counselors (in fact many counselors contend they don't know about the process or isn't their job to assist) they found this as a big an issue as we do and committed to find a way to solve that issue, and we will follow up on that.