DADDY’S GIRLS

Although Lynn Smith did a fine job in reporting the tragic story of the Lewis family, she propagated one major misconception that appears all too often in California crime stories. Sick people like Raymond Lewis will never face a parole board. Smith wrote: “Lewis will be eligible for parole in four years, and when the parole board considers his case, the relatives vow they’ll be there.”

Wrong. Check your California Penal Code. Raymond Lewis, and other sex offenders like him, will never have a parole hearing. Lewis was convicted of violating penal code sections 285 (incest) and 288 (crimes against children). These carry determinate sentences. Persons convicted of these crimes earn one day off their terms for every day they work, etc., in prison. They are released on a set day, which they know from the time they enter the system, calculated as approximately half of the time to which they were sentenced.

The only crimes in California for which a person must face a parole board are second-degree murder and first-degree murder, aggravated mayhem, kidnap for ransom, attempted murder of governmental officers, train derailing, attempted first-degree murder and bombings resulting in death. That’s it.

As an inmate in a California prison, surrounded by sex offenders of all shapes and sizes, it makes me ill to realize that while convicts such as myself face exhaustive scrutiny before a parole board, sex offenders are released on a wholesale basis, daily, without any treatment or evaluation whatsoever.

ROBERT M. ROSENKRANTZ

CALIFORNIA MEN’S COLONY

SAN LUIS OBISPO

Rosenkrantz is serving a 17-years - to - life sentence for second-degree murder, committed when he was 18 in 1985. Lynn Smith replies: The California Department of Corrections says Rosenkrantz is right about the crimes for which a convict must face a parole board. However, rather than a set date, prisoners serving determinate sentences receive an “early-as-possible release date.” This date is calculated under the assumption of good behavior and other factors, including participation in work or education programs.

Also, Raymond Lewis will be eligible for parole in 5 1/2 years, not the four I had reported. He still gets parole, but, as Rosenkrantz says, he doesn’t have to go before a parole board.