THREE STRIKES LAW LEAVES FAMILIES IN PAIN

INGLEWOOD, Calif. (NNPA) - Most parents find it rather easy and enjoyable
to talk about their children. But not Freddie Lawson. When she mentions her
43-year-old son Derik, the elderly mother breaks down in tears, her warm
and inviting face quickly turns cold and weary. It's not that she isn't
proud of her son. Quite the contrary. She loves Derik and spends most of
her waking hours fighting for him. She cries because she's afraid: Afraid
that she will never again be able to share with her oldest son the simple
things in life.

That is because Derik, a former Washington Preparatory High School student,
is serving 25-years-to-life in state prison for burglary, his third felony
conviction under California's controversial Three Strikes Law, which
sentences repeat felony offenders to prison for at least 25 years if they
are convicted of a third offense. Derik, like the majority of those
sentenced under the 1994 law, is serving time for a non-violent crime,
burglarizing an unoccupied dwelling, one of many he committed to support a
serious drug habit. If paroled, Derik will likely be released when most his
age will be planning their retirement. His mother will probably be dead.

"I'm crying because 25 years is really cruel for someone who hasn't done
any violent things," said Lawson, who spends the majority of her time
volunteering at Families to Amend California's Three Strikes (FACTS), an
advocacy group and support network for families that seeks to place an
initiative on the November ballot changing the law so it applies to only
violent crimes, such as rape, murder, child molestation and armed robbery.
"I'm worried that I may never see him get out."

Freedie Lawson is not alone.

A new report by the Justice Policy Institute has just been made public.
Titled"Still Striking Out: Ten years of California's Three Strikes," the
study reveals that African American incarceration rate for third strikers
is 12 times higher than for Whites (143 per 100,000 to 12 per 100,000.)

The Latino rate of incarnation is 17 per 100,000, which is 45 percent
higher than the third strike inmates for Whites.

The report also noted that 57 percent of third strikers are accused of
non-violent crime.

While analysts focus their attention on the financial costs of Three
Strikes in California, which is said to be more than $4 billion for
non-violent offenders, according to the National Institute of Justice,
there are very few reports on the emotional and financial costs borne by
the families of those incarcerated.

Granted, most inmates deserve to be in prison, said Lawson, and the
families of the victims certainly suffer from the same pain and sense of
loss that she experiences. However, Lawson and many like her feel that her
son also is a victim. Yes, he deserves to pay his debt to society for his
crimes - burglarizing someone's home is a very serious offense and an
intense violation of privacy and security - but 25-years-to-life is just
too outrageous, she said.

"I put a lot of the blame on myself because I knew he had a drug problem,
but I just couldn't afford to keep him in a rehab program," Lawson said.
She remembers her son being an average kid who was involved in sports and
loved bodybuilding. He was a normal African American child who went to
school, hung out with friends and attended church with the family.

"We were just a middle class family trying to do our best. Now he's caught
up in the system. It's been very hard on me and the rest of the family,"
Lawson said.

Her pain and feelings of guilt and hopelessness are shared by literally
thousands of families whose lives have been transformed because they too
have a loved one incarcerated under the law, the majority for non-violent
offenses such as shoplifting $2.69 worth of AA batteries, forging checks,
possession of less than two grams of marijuana or filling out a false
driver's license application. The long sentences can destroy families,
cause depression and anger. But they also can spur a sense of togetherness
as families unite in support of their loved ones.

Sue Reams knows what Three Strikes can do to a family. She has seen her
suburban life rocked by the tough-on-crime stance taken by most. Her son
Shane, 35, is serving 25-years-to-life for being the lookout in a $20 crack
cocaine sale. The dealer received only four years, Reams said.

"I felt like someone had knocked the wind out of me," she added. "The
attorney kept telling me that he wasn't going to see a day in prison but
she didn't know anything about Three Strikes. So when the judge came back
with the life sentence, I couldn't even believe it."

Luckily for Reams and Shane, they have a very strong family. Like Lawson,
relatives come together to support Reams with her efforts to reform the
law. She is the Orange County representative for FACTS.

"My husband and two daughters are my support network," she said. "Without
them, I don't know what I would do."

Reams, like many other mothers and fathers, blames herself for Shane's
sentence. After all, she voted for the law, as did Lawson.

"I thought it was going to apply to violent offenders only, at least that's
what I was told," she said.

Reams also blames herself for Shane's first strikes because she is the one
who forced neighbors to file charges against her son after he burglarized
their houses to get money for drugs. The burglaries counted for his first
two strikes and he served 18 months in prison, one of many short stints he
served because of his addiction.

"I was a tough love parent and I thought sending him to jail would scare
him straight. All it did was get him his first two strikes," she said.

Reams said Shane tried to seek help many times and was sober at times, but
she could never afford to help him pay for an extensive rehab program and
he was unable to enroll in one while serving time.

"They just send them in there without any way to better themselves," she said.

What is especially difficult for Reams is that her son has a child of his
own, a 13-year-old boy who is afraid to even visit him because of the
intimidating and sometimes frightening prison environment. Shane's younger
sisters also have grown and have families of their own, time Shane has
missed while in Corcoran Prison where he has been exposed to more violence
and drugs instead of rehabilitation, said Reams.

"He says it's difficult to see us come and go. It's hard for him to see
everyone growing up without him, especially his son. That relationship has
definitely suffered because he's in prison," Reams added. "They all write
to him, but the burden of keeping all those relationships up sometimes kind
of falls on me and other family members often don't want to talk about it
because they know it is painful."

This story comes special to the NNPA from Wave Community Newspapers.