‘Life After Murder’ details parolees seeking redemption

(L-R): Jesse Reed, Don Cronk, Eddie Ramirez, Philip Seiler and Rich Rael stand in front of San Quentin State Prison in California, where they had been incarcerated for murder. All five were eventually released on parole. (Photo credit: Elisabeth Fall)

Caitlin Yoshiko Kandil

When Don Cronk was young, he became addicted to cocaine. The addiction consumed him and he started stealing to pay for his habit.

But one night, a burglary took an unexpected turn. Cronk and his friend broke into a house, only to find the owner still there. The old man pulled out a gun and shot Cronk.

Cronk fired back, immediately killing the home owner. Cronk never intended to hurt anyone that night — he just had an addiction to feed. Still, he was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole.

It’s a familiar story: Someone commits a crime, gets caught and is sent to prison. For most people, that’s where the story ends — the bad guy gets put away. But for Cronk and so many others, it’s only the beginning.

In her new book, “Life After Murder: Five Men in Search of Redemption,” NPR reporter Nancy Mullane follows a group of men in California’s San Quentin State Prison through the arduous process of parole and eventually freedom. All had been convicted of murder and sentenced to life behind bars.

“We don’t know who these people who have committed these kinds of crimes become after they’ve gone to prison,” said Mullane. “We don’t know what the back end of that looks like.”

Cronk used his time in prison as an opportunity to turn his life around. With the help of various programs — and a new-found faith in God — Cronk overcame his drug addiction. He also confronted his past bad behavior — what he called “the ultimate crime against humanity” — and earned his GED and an associate’s degree. He got a job at the prison chapel, maintained a steady girlfriend, and had a perfect disciplinary record. He never even smoked a cigarette.

“Every criminal is painted as this monster, irredeemable — someone to be terrified of all the time,” Cronk said. “But my experience — and for most of the men I knew in there — is that we realized what we did. We admitted what we did. We accepted the punishment. If you do all of these things, you shall have a light at the end of the tunnel.”

While Cronk seemed to be the perfect candidate for parole, getting it approved was nearly impossible. In 2007, the California parole board scheduled 6,181 hearings and found only 119 lifers suitable — less than two percent. Those few then faced an even more difficult challenge — getting the governor’s approval.

In the late 1980s, a Massachusetts prisoner named Willie Horton was released on a weekend furlough program and fled to Maryland. While there, he raped a woman and assaulted her fiancé. This incident was used to damaging effect by George H.W. Bush against his Democratic opponent, Massachusetts Gov. Michael Dukakis. The campaign ad exploiting the Horton case was a catalyst to nationwide anxiety about parole.

Since then, parole has become a political liability for elected officials. As a safeguard, California and a number of other states have implemented laws that require the governor to approve the parole board’s rulings on prisoners convicted of murder.

Parole has become so uncommon that most prisoners sentenced to life with the possibility of parole frequently die in prison. “We have these laws that say based on the conditions of the crime, we see that there’s a potential for change,” Mullane said. “So we give them this hope of life with the possibility of parole, but then we forget that they’re there… We turn our backs on them and say you shouldn’t have gotten out.”

The parole board found Cronk unsuitable six times before he was finally given a parole date on his seventh appearance before the board, 27 years into his life sentence. Several months later, his parole was reversed by the governor. “We don’t want special treatment, we don’t want to get out early,” Cronk said. “Just let me go if I’ve done everything according to the law, when I’m supposed to go.”

Although Cronk was devastated, he didn’t give up. He went to court and appealed the decision. Meanwhile, the California Supreme Court issued a ruling restricting the governor’s ability to overturn parole, explaining that if a person is given a sentence with the possibility of parole, there must be an actual possibility of parole.

Cronk went before the board again and was set free.

Since his release, Cronk has been a model parolee. He moved in with his girlfriend and started working as an electrician. Wanting to advance his career, he went to a community college and took computer classes to help him prepare to take his Microsoft certification test. He is self-employed, using computer programs to edit books, magazines and brochures.

As Mullane writes: “Of the 1,000 prisoners paroled by the state of California in the past 21 years, and who had served a sentence of life with the possibility of parole for murder, not one has committed murder again. Zero.”

For Mullane, Cronk’s story — and the others in her book — testifies to people’s ability to change. “By them being excluded and feeling the need to hide their past, we as a society are being excluded and cut off from the lessons they have to teach us,” she said.

“The average person thinks that we all have a screw loose and that we’re mean and evil and don’t have consciences,” Cronk said. “But people can change if you allow them to, if you help them and make it available for them.”

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Sep 25 13:07pm by jsl55 [134.186.130.250]
If he didn't intend to harm anyone while breaking into this man's house, why did he carry a firearm during a burglary?

Aug 18 9:35am by psalms91 [108.231.166.251]
This is a wonderful story of hope, love and redemption. We should all search our hearts and understand that we are guilty of sin, not one of you out there are free from sin, but redemption is available for those that truly and faithfully seek God. Thank you to Nancy Mulane for compelling others to search for the voiceless and forgotten. The Lord is after the lost that's where His heart is.

Aug 17 20:40pm by James Jacobs [98.112.218.199]

I'm a prosecutor from Southern California whose sole duty is to appear at Life Inmate Parole Hearings. I have handled an in- mate who killed once, was paroled and went back out and killed again. He speciality was killing women. There is a presumption in California law that once an inmate attains his minimum eligible parole date, he is presumed not a danger to society and must be released. The legislature gave the parole board a checklist of things to consider in determining whether or not an inmate posed a risk of future danger to the citizenry and until the Supreme Court set down new rules a few years ago, the parole board followed the rules that the legiislature had written. For the most part, the Supreme Court minimized the factors on the checklist because it felt that they did not accurately reflect an inmate's present dangerousness. Such things as the number of victims injured or killed, the heniousness of the crime, previous violations of probation and parole, and the inmate's prior criminal record can no longer be considered unless it can be shown that such factors directly affect the inmate's current dangerousness.

So the parole boards began to adjust to the new rules but then administrations changed. We have a new governor and a senate that are marching to a different drummer. The governor has been ordered by a federal court to empty out the prisons to reduce overpopulation. Instead of building more prisons, or getting rid of victimless crimes, he chose to send state prison inmates to county jail to do their time. The county jails have been overwhelmed with convicts and have started releasing them wholesale because many county jails are also under federal court order regarding overpopulation. Consequently crime, which had been going down for years, has increased 10-15% depending on what jurisdiction you're in. But this mass release of state prison inmates did not include lifers. When the governor appoints a person to sit on the parole board, that appointment must be confirmed by the Senate. The past president of the Senate made the statement that he was getting tired of lifers not being released so when confirmation time came some 6 months after appointment, those parole commissioners that had not paroled a certain percentage of the inmates at their hearings were not confirmed. In the past 2 years, turn over on the parole board has become the rule rather than the exception. In less than a couple of years, the number of life inmates obtaining a grant of parole has doubled. Yes, I have recommended parole on occassion but it is very hard to make such a recommendation when dealing with habitual wife beaters, street gang shooters, and armed robbers. These newly released lifers will join their breathern out in the streets who were released because of the court order where they will be unable to find a job and will become totally dependent on family, friends or our welfare system.

I don't know the 5 ex-cons in your article and maybe they have talents that most life inmates don't possess. For every lifer that earns a degree in prison, we have 3 or 4 that can't speak english and test out at a 3 rd grade level. We have several in prison who are serial rapists and others who are current prison gang members. All I want to say is that there is always two sides to a story and the lifers in your story are the exception and not the rule. You want more killers paroled? How about we send Charlie Manson or the Night Stalker to your neighborhood.

Aug 17 14:14pm by Critical Eye [75.54.16.133]

"Cronk and his friend broke into a house, only to find the owner still there. The old man pulled out a gun and shot Cronk.Cronk fired back, immediately killing the homeowner. Cronk never intended to hurt anyone that night — he just had an addiction to feed. Still, he was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison with the possibility of parole."

This man and an accomplice entered the HOME of another while armed, then shot and killed the HOME OWNER but Mr. Cronk never intended to hurt anyone? Only a fool would believe this tale of woe. The author clearly paints a picture where Mr. Cronk was the victim and he should have received a hug for his crime.

Mr. Cronk deserves credit for his efforts while incarcerated and post release. He saw an opportunity to change his life and he grabbed it. I applaud him for that and all others that do the same but to paint this man as a victim of an unfortunate circumstance is an abomination.

The author claims that every person paroled that was serving life with the possibility of parole is a success as none have recommitted the crime of murder is equally disturbing. I would like to see all of the major crime categories accounted for.

This is nothing more than a fluff piece that demonstrates a lack of compassion for the real vicitms.

Aug 17 13:25pm by Yogi [69.232.67.117]

In prison, inmates play the victim card for everything. They claim inhumane treatment. They want better medical attention, better food, better living conditions, better education, more freedom to come out of their cells, more freedom to have visitors and can get any employee to be removed from their position in a prison by simply submitting an anonymous letter to the warden stating they are going to assault a them if they aren't moved out. The employee is moved for their safety and the inmates win. Inmates are the best manipulators in the world.

and the tax payer pays

Aug 16 16:11pm by others [134.186.130.250]
why do we always forget the victims.

Aug 15 22:58pm by sista soul [75.111.34.168]

I read this book and also have first hand knowledge on this issue. The book is a page turner!I have a loved one who was found suitable for parole the very first time he went before the Board of parole. The governor at that time reversed it. The next year, he came up again and was found suitable again, two out of two! This time Jerry Brown has let it move forward...BUT...he remains in San Quinten . This "system" makes no sense. The lifers have a zero rate to return, everyone knows this. Lifers are old or getting old. So what is the point?

Sista