They have been given probation. A court order prevents them from returning home

On May 29, Sacramento County Superior Court Judge Jennifer Rockwell ruled that the CDCR could not release many people, including Gonzalez, who were serving life sentences with the possibility of parole and had little chance of going home. The CDCR appealed the ruling.

Now Gonzalez, who was sentenced to 21 years to life, said he probably won't have breakfast with his family until 2028.

Gonzalez said he learned of Rockwell's order from a friend who was scheduled to be released days before him. The friend, whose family was waiting outside the prison gates in Blythe, California, had already changed into civilian clothes. He was taken back to his cell.

At that moment, Gonzalez realized that it would be years – not just days – before he would be reunited with his family.

“This is the equivalent of losing a loved one,” said Gonzalez, a Mexican.

The court order has broad implications for people serving life sentences with the possibility of parole. About a third of California's prison population is serving life sentences with the possibility of parole, according to a 2021 report by research and advocacy center The Sentencing Project. The majority of the 34,000 inmates are Black or Latinx.

“Unfortunately, the court's decision punishes the people who have done the most to rehabilitate themselves,” said Heather MacKay, an attorney with the Prison Law Office, a Berkeley-based nonprofit that advocates for policy and legal change.

Her concerns were shared by other legal experts who spoke to KQED.

“This order affects the people who are most likely to be released,” said Heidi Rummel, director of the Post-Conviction Justice Project at the University of Southern California's Gould School of Law.

According to a 2023 report by the Board of Parole Hearings, approximately 5,200 people serving life sentences were released on parole between 2011 and 2019. The recidivism rate is less than 3% within three years of release.

As part of this reporting, KQED spoke with five people affected by the order. Some said they received letters from the CDCR telling them they would not be released. Others, like Gonzalez, heard about it through word of mouth. All of the people said they were devastated and confused.

In an August 9 statement to KQED, Mary Xjimenez, a spokeswoman for the CDCR, said, “Prop. 57 created a permanent solution to reduce the prison population.”

“Under Prop. 57, CDCR has the constitutional authority to make credit modifications to encourage incarcerated individuals to more actively participate in rehabilitation and educational programs and to continue to display good behavior,” she wrote in the statement. “This is a critical incentive and powerful tool for promoting public safety because it increases the likelihood that incarcerated individuals will successfully return to our communities.”

According to the CDCR, approximately 100 people are released on parole each month. Of these, the agency estimates that approximately 20 people per month will be affected by the court order.

“I worked incredibly hard to change myself”

Gonzalez grew up in a poor neighborhood in East Los Angeles. From third grade through high school, he played sports, including basketball, football and baseball. But at age 16, he said, he joined a gang. After high school, he attended a community college to pursue a degree in criminal justice, hoping to find work in a juvenile detention center after graduation.

In 2008, when Gonzalez was 22, he and a friend, Jessie Ramirez, went to a house party. According to court documents, they were asked to leave the party but refused. Gonzalez argued with the partygoers. He hit someone in the face with a bottle and a fight broke out.

Gonzalez and Ramirez ran out of the house. On the way out, Ramirez shot and injured three people, according to court records. One of them was paralyzed from the waist down. Gonzalez was arrested and charged with attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. In 2011, he was sentenced to 96 years to life. On appeal, the sentence was reduced to 21 years to life, Gonzalez said.

After the verdict is announced, the parole board would not consider releasing González until 2028 at the earliest.

In 2016, Proposition 57 was passed and amended the California Constitution.

The measure had three clearly distinguishable components. The first component gave juvenile judges, not prosecutors, the authority to decide whether juveniles could be tried in adult court. The second component created a parole consideration process for people who had committed a nonviolent crime, and the third gave the CDCR “the authority to award credit to inmates for good behavior and recognized rehabilitative or scholastic achievement,” according to the amended state constitution.

Following the passage of Proposition 57, the CDCR updated its regulations as part of a rulemaking process that expanded credit eligibility for most inmates, including those serving life sentences. The regulations were further revised in December 2018.

Gonzalez was able to earn more credits, allowing him to have an earlier hearing before the parole board.

“When I found out they were changing the laws, it was a liberating feeling,” he said.