Biography
Hector Cifuentes was a California prisoner, identified as J-02643, whose participation in the 2011 prison hunger strike was cited against parole. In an August 9, 2013 decision, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. reversed a finding that he was suitable for parole. The governor described the strike as gang-organized and treated participation as a negative indication of rehabilitation; that characterization is the governor’s account. The decision also cited a later prison-drug conviction and other alleged misconduct, while acknowledging Cifuentes’s education, vocational training and self-help work. His underlying second-degree murder conviction concerned a June 27, 1993 shooting and is not presented as a political conviction. The report separately describes a conviction for conspiring to smuggle heroin into prison, carrying an additional nominal four-year term after his life term. Initial admission and actual release dates remain unverified.
Hector Cifuentes was a California prisoner, identified as J-02643, whose participation in the 2011 prison hunger strike was cited against parole. In an August 9, 2013 decision, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. reversed a finding that he was suitable for parole. The governor described the strike as gang-organized and treated participation as a negative indication of rehabilitation; that characterization is the governor’s account. The decision also cited a later prison-drug conviction and other alleged misconduct, while acknowledging Cifuentes’s education, vocational training and self-help work. His underlying second-degree murder conviction concerned a June 27, 1993 shooting and is not presented as a political conviction. The report separately describes a conviction for conspiring to smuggle heroin into prison, carrying an additional nominal four-year term after his life term. Initial admission and actual release dates remain unverified.
Executive Report on Parole Review Decisions, January 1–December 31, 2013, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., PDF page 39; Executive Report on Parole Review Decisions, January 1–December 31, 2013, Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr., PDF page 40.
