When California voters approved Proposition 57 in 2016, Alexei Kavanaugh believed his days at Mule Creek State Prison were almost over. He was serving a 14-year, eight-month sentence for crimes stemming from a 10-day spree in 2012, and his sentence was inflated because of his criminal record. Under Prop 57, inmates with convictions for nonviolent crimes serving less than life terms were eligible for parole after completing the term for their primary crime. Kavanaugh was eligible as soon as the law became effective, potentially cutting off a decade from his sentence. Yet he was rejected for parole in 2017 and in 2018. He was finally released this year, but only after he successfully sued the state for not following Proposition 57. While voters may have thought they were approving a law that would drain overcrowded state prisons of nonviolent offenders serving long terms, that has not been the case, reports the San Diego Union-Tribune.
In the past 2 1/2 years, just 20 percent of all eligible nonviolent offenders with determinate sentences have been granted parole. An appeals court said the state’s screening process — which had excluded from parole consideration one-third of eligible inmates — “is at odds with the clear language” of Proposition 57. “They have been thwarting the will of the voters,” said Richard Braucher, the lawyer who brought the case on behalf of inmate Tijue McGhee. “It appears they are making it harder and harder for inmates who qualify for release.”