Perpetual Punishment

Today I drove a friend around to help him hunt for a house to rent. James is 47 and is currently living with a roommate, Paul, in an apartment. They have become tired of hearing the thunder of 7 pair of little feet banging on their ceiling, and have decided to find a house rather than another apartment.

We stopped at a rental agency that had some lisitings, put down a deposit, and went to look at one particular house. The agency is called CWP Property Management, and its president, who presumably mnakes the company's policies, is Karen Bergendahl. It is located in San Leandro, California.

Let me insert here a few other facts. James is a recovering cancer patient. Radiation had many side effects on him, but it did kill the three small, cancerous tumors in his lungs. His roommate, who is about the same age, has an eye condityion that is slowly causing him to go blind. At this point he has about 30% of his sight. In a few years he will have none. James and Paul have kinown each other for almost a decade. They have been through some tough times, but have survived. They are currently on SSI, though James is able to scrape up an additional sum of about %500 a month doing errands and small chores. These guys are both extremely moral. They are good citrizens.The house James and I looked at was wonderful ! The only drawback was that it is located near the BART tracks and in the front of the hopuse one can hear the trains whizzing by.

These days James takes care of most of Paul's paperwork, due to Paul's bad vision. James filled out the rental application and sat down with the rental agency's rep as she reviewed it.

Twenty-five years ago when he was about 22, Paul had been convicted of a felony for possession of marajuama. He spent some time in jail because of this, but since then has never had a brush with the law, never engaged in criminal activities.

James has an exemplary record as a renter, and he has been taking care of Paul for quiote a few years of illness. They have a ten-year record of having ALWAYS paid their rent on time.

The lady at the rental agency, in reviewing the rental application papers, saw that Paul had had a felony conviction 25 years ago. Without any further examination of the facts, she announced that they would absolutely not rent to any convicted felon.

How long are we going to punish those who have already paid their debt to society ? Why should anyone convicted of a drug-based felony have to continue paying for a crime committed decades ago when he was young and full of stupid ?

In the State of California, it is illegal, I understand, to refuse employment to someone solely because of a past felony conviction. (If any reader knows otherweise, please let me know.) Is it legal to refuse to rent to someon e solely based on a felony conviction decades ago ?

What This Blog is About

This blog is about specific individuals presently incarcerated in California State Prisons. What I am asking of you, the reader, is to examine each case and then decide what you think should be done. For instance, should an inmate remain in prison or should he be released ? I will start with the case of Damien Johnson because I have interviewed him in prison about six times and have his own account of what happened to him. I have also interviewed one of his parents.