POPULATION 3,955www.sanquentinnews.comSAN QUENTIN, CALIFORNIA 94964VOL. 2014 NO.4 April 2014

See the Last Mile on page 10

See District Attorney on page 4

See Realignment on page 13See Thousands on page 14

Photo by Sam Hearnes

Aly Tamboura pitching his VeriSight Company at The Last Mile Demo Day

Business Technology Program Hosts Its Third Demo DayBy Juan Haines

Managing Editor

There was standing room only in a packed room full of venture capitalists, business leaders, public safety offi-cials, prison administrators, and community members, as

San Quentin inmates took part in their own version of Shark Tank.

On March 14, The Last Mile (TLM) finished its third round, teaching inmates how to create a business plan they can put into practice once they return to their communities.

We boast a 100 percent em-ployment record, said TLM co-founder Chris Redlitz.

With its catch phrase, Pav-ing the Road to Success, 10 graduates of the six-month program pitched their ideas

Photo by Sam Hearnes

Sean Webby, Jeff Rosen and Daniel Barton

Santa Clara County D.A. Attends Forum With S.Q. Inmates

Santa Clara County District Attorney, Jeff Rosen paid a visit to San Quentin on Feb. 28 to discuss crime punishment, re-habilitation, and reentry with about two dozen inmates.

Its not very often that Im in a room with a lot of guys whove committed serious crimes, Rosen said to the room full of convicted murderers, robbers, and three-strikers.

Rosen took part in the fourth San Quentin News Forum, the second where a Bay Area dis-trict attorney ventured inside San Quentin to discuss criminal

justice policy with inmates.I agree that a lot of people

dont know what happens in pris-on, and Im one of them, Rosen said. I didnt give much thought to what happens to defendants after they are convicted.

Most people dont think about what goes on behind prison walls, added forum par-ticipant and criminal defense at-torney Dan Barton. Barton said he has known Rosen for a long time and complimented him for implementing best practices,

New Report Shows Little Difference in Conviction Rate Before and After Realignment

By Kevin D. SawyerJournalism Guild Chairman

More than a year after the im-plementation of Californias Re-alignment plan (AB 109) to re-duce the states once burgeoning prison population, a new report found little difference between arrest and conviction rates of of-fenders released before and after

Realignment.The report by the California

Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) said that the one-year return-to-prison rates of offenders were sub-stantially lower. This, how-ever, is due in large part to the fact that most offenders from

Study: Thousands Wrongfully ConvictedBy Ted SwainStaff Writer

A minimum of 9,900 innocent people are wrongfully convicted each year, according to a study by Ohio State University. The study used information from al-most 200 judges, prosecuting at-torneys, public defenders, police, plus the state attorneys general of 41 states.

Reasons for wrongful convic-tions include perjury, negligence by prosecution, coerced confes-sions, frame ups and overzeal-ousness. One of the biggest fac-

tors for wrongful convictions are mistaken eyewitness identifica-tion, said the report published in Forensic Magazine and included in a new book. Susan Myster, Ph.D., and Michael Cromett, Ph.D. authored the magazine ar-ticle.

Our research has convinced us that unethical conduct in the United States has not, in gen-eral, received appropriate atten-tion, nor has it been adequately punished, said author C. Ronald Huff.

These findings are included in Huffs new book, Convicted But

Innocent: Wrongful Conviction and Public Policy (Sage Publica-tions, 1996). Huff is director of the Criminal Justice Research Center and the School of Public Policy and Management at Ohio State University.

A number of organizations, usually called Innocence Proj-ects, are working to free wrong-fully convicted inmates. There are so many wrongfully convict-ed persons in the United States, most organizations working on exoneration of those wrongful convictions, only work on DNA based cases. In other words, easily proved cases. Very few innocence projects entertain non-DNA based cases. However, the very same methods used to convict are now being used to exonerate.

Eyewitness identification has

Federal Court Rules TwoParole Laws Unconstitutional

By Chung KaoJournalism Guild Writer

A federal court has ruled that two California parole laws are unconstitutional.

Proposition 89, amended the states constitution in 1988 and gave the governor the authority to review parole board deci-sions on inmates convicted of murder.

The court ruled that Proposi-tion 89 was intended to give the Governor the power to block the parole of convicted murderers.

According to court records, from 1991 to 2010 California governors reversed more than 70 percent of the thousands of parole grants by the parole board.

From 1991 to 2011, all previ-ous governors reviewed only

See Federal Court on page 7Read About Olympic Gold Medalist on Page 19

Steve Emrick, Eddie Hart and Frank RounaPhoto by Stephen Pascascio

On Saturday, May 3 from 1 4:30 pm, Seven Sister Mystery School will be holding a Healing Ceremony on behalf of inmates and staff. San Francisco Bay Area people will hold the ceremony on the side of Ring Mountain in Tiburon, overlooking San Quen-tin. For at least 15 minutes, everyone is invited to reflect on what they would like healing in their life. The event will also double as a fundraiser to help expand San Quentin News to reach all California inmates.

San Quentin NewsTHE PULSE OF SAN QUENTIN Award Winner