By Dr. John E. Warren, Publisher, San Diego Voice & Viewpoint Newspaper
Twenty years ago, Mr. Antwoine Bealer was sentenced to 35 years to life for an Arco Station robbery in Lemon Grove, California, which he said he did not do. He was on his way home at the time that a Sheriff’s Deputy pulled him over because the Deputy had a radio call about the robbery. Mr. Bealer’s car was stopped and searched, and a toy gun and some money were found in his car. He was arrested and held without bail for more than a year until his trial.
Mr. Bealer was tried, convicted and sentenced under the three strikes rule, even though at the time he had no prior strikes against him. Mr. Bealer’s nightmare with the prison system started with his placement at Corcoran State Prison. This placement put him with gang members, even though he was not, and told officials he was not, a gang member. This is important because it is a known fact that to place a non gang member with a gang member is to invite bodily harm or death for that person. When Mr. Bealer resisted this gang member placement, he was moved by prison guards, beaten by them and then placed in a Restricted Housing Unit. Mr. Bealer had received a prison violation report because he had refused the gang related housing. His problems really started with the beating he received from the prison guards who later sued him for assault even though he was beaten by them while handcuffed. The two prison guards who accused Mr. Bealer of assault while handcuffed and being beaten by them, won their lawsuit. One guard received a $5000.00 judgment, and the second guard was awarded a $2500.00 judgment. The lawsuits were filed by California Staff Assault Task Force, which had a reputation of filing lawsuits against inmates.
The State of California tried Mr. Bealer for assault on the two guards. During this trial, he represented himself. He was given an additional 25 years for this alleged assault on the guards even before they sued him and won their $7500 judgments. No one questioned the 25 years added on to his sentence which meant he was now serving 55 years to life.
In a separate incident, while at Kern Valley State Prison, Mr. Bealer was again beaten by guards for refusing housing with identified gang members. This time he sued the guards. He was tried by an all white jury of males and females and lost his case. Two weeks before his trial, he was moved and given limited access to his paperwork since he was representing himself again.
Mr. Bealer had received one strike for the Arco robbery, one strike for prison guard assault and a third strike which was questioned but not identified before the Arco robbery.
What’s significant here is that Mr. Bealer was sentenced under three strike guidelines without having had three strikes.
During the years that have followed his incarceration, Mr. Bealer has received multiple violation reports for refusing and resisting continued efforts to place him with gang members, even though he has no record of gang affiliation. In the last 8 months of this year, Mr. Bealer has been moved 8 times between 6 prisons. In two instances he has been moved within a 24 hour period. He is currently at the Correctional Training Facility in Soledad , California. As of October this year, he was transferred from the Soledad Training Facility to Salinas Valley State Prison where he was beaten and hospitalized by guards for refusing gang related housing. When released from the hospital he was forced into a cell with a gang member and subsequently stabbed 15 times within one hour of being placed in the gang members cell. Mr. Bealer, his family and this newspaper have ask the Director of the California Department of Correction and Rehabilitation as well as the State Attorney General to investigate this case but there have been no response from anyone. Mr. Bealer’s life continues to be endangered. The Office of the Inspector General for the California Prison System has closed the case and said there is nothing they can do. The issue of gang related housing has been ignored even though at least one L.A. Judge has acknowledged the clear and present danger of such housing placements. To date, neither have responded. Mr. Bealer’s website address is “justice-denied.com”
As a footnote, Mr. Bealer’s Probation Report has stated that he is not in a gang listed in Cal Gangs.
