Wrongly imprisoned nonviolent offender seeks Gov. Newsom’ s release on parole, before his continued incarceration becomes a political non-starter with Democratic and African American presidential primary voters.
by Donald ‘C-Note’ Hooker
Dear Gov. Newsom, everything I am about to write was unknown to me prior to April 2025, including your personal denial of my state constitutional right to a Nonviolent Parole Board hearing.
In November of 2016, a super-majority of California voters passed your predecessor’s Proposition 57. This proposition amended our state’s Constitution, and Section (a)(1) states:
“Parole Consideration: Any person convicted of a nonviolent felony offense and sentenced to state prison shall be eligible for parole consideration after completing the full term for his or her primary offense.” – California Constitution Article I, Section 32(a)(1).
The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) regulations related to this constitutional amendment went into effect on Jan. 1, 2019, and state in pertinent part:
“(b) Notwithstanding subsection (a) the board shall by no later than December 31, 2021, schedule all parole consideration hearings for indeterminately sentenced nonviolent offenders who are eligible for an initial parole consideration hearing on or before December 31, 2021.” – California Code of Regulations Title 15, Section 2449.32(b).
On March 14, 2025, a named Case Records staff person identified me as an incarcerated person who is eligible for the Indeterminately-Sentenced Nonviolent Offender Parole Review Process. This case worker identified my Nonviolent Parole Eligibility Date (NEPD) as being Feb. 23, 2001. That was over two decades ago, Gov. Newsom.
On March 15, 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom, during an Indeterminately-Sentenced Nonviolent Parole Review Process Referral, decided I will not be referred to the Board of Parole Hearings (board) for a parole consideration. The reasons you gave, Gov. Newsom, were not applicable to me, as I never had a parole hearing before, nor was I scheduled for a parole hearing between March 15, 2025, and March 15, 2026. The day of your denial, I had an Elderly Parole Hearing scheduled for June 16, 2026. This would be 12 months beyond your rationale for denying my constitutional right to an Indeterminately-Sentenced Nonviolent Parole Hearing.
On March 27, 2025, Gov. Gavin Newsom notified me of an attorney who will be representing me during a parole board hearing. On April 22, 2025, a named Case Records staff person updated my Minimum Eligible Parole Date (MERD) to May 18, 2025. For me, Gov. Newsom, that was a huge problem. Ten months earlier, my MERD was May 1 , 2028. No prisoner can earn 900+ days worth of Work Group credits in a 10-month period. At 33%, the most a prisoner can earn annually is 100 days of Work Group credits during a 12-month period. Where I come from, Gov. Newsom, we are taught, “Don’t put alarm clocks in the graveyard.” In other words, don’t wake up the dead. The case worker who fraudulently gave me these extra Work Group credits had received a promotion afterwards.
Instead of sending me to a Nonviolent Parole hearing, Gov. Newsom, you have orchestrated I go to a Minimum Eligible Parole board hearing. We have rebelled against that, sir. Last decade, we activists created Youth Parole, Elderly Parole and Nonviolent Parole. The MERD parole process has been around for 45 years, with an 86% denial rate. Nonviolent has a 74% denial rate. MERD was created for murderers or kidnappers, while Nonviolent Boards will never hear from a murderer nor a kidnapper.
Deliberately orchestrated unfair board hearing panel
On May 9, 2025, CDCR’s Office of Grievances’ decision stated my appeal of your March 15, 2025, decision was outside the jurisdiction of the CDCR. In other words, I can’t even appeal your decision to deny me my state constitutional right to a Nonviolent Parole Board Hearing.
Since Gov. Brown gave me access to Arts-in-Corrections in 2015, I have become a globally recognized prison artist. My visual and literary works have been published and exhibited by prestigious universities on both coasts and up and down this state. Despite these achievements, I am being blocked from putting these accomplishments in my central file for the board to review in their decision-making process. Also, the board’s psych evaluation is based on my central file, which has none of my artistic works from organizations outside of the CDCR.
I say to my supporters, this board is rigged. So we are working on a campaign, #FreeCnoteInB1ackAugust. Black August is a month dedicated in memoriam to freedom fighters. The commemoration was started in San Quentin in 1979, and, in 2023, was declared the Black History Month for Freedom Fighters by the Associated Press.
This Nonviolent Parole Board Hearing has been so mismanaged that we will be petitioning federal and state courts for my supervised release on parole.
It’s three-and-a-half years beyond the Dec. 31 , 2021, deadline to take me to the board. According to our legal team, every day after Dec. 31, 2021, is another day I have wrongly been held in prison, so why would a court give the CDCR further delay by sending me to the wrong parole board?
I tell my supporters, we don’t have to wait on a court decision, because Gov. Newsom can order me released on supervised parole. Gov. Newsom has pardon power, clemency and the power to commute sentences. I am not asking him to overturn my conviction nor reduce my sentence. All I am asking him to do is release me to supervised parole. I remind my supporters, “You cannot win the electoral college without the Black vote (that’s the presidency), and you most certainly can’t win the Democratic presidential primary without the Black vote!”
I further tell my supporters about former Vice President Kamala Harris when she ran for president. At the second Democratic presidential primary debate, Hawaii Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard attacked Harris on her record as California Attorney General, specifically the refusal to cut loose innocent Black men and the locking up of Black women for their school truant children.
Mind you, I served my time over two decades ago. Dec. 31, 2021, was CDCR’s deadline to take me before a Nonviolent Parole Board. That was over three and a half years ago. I am one of those Black men who shouldn’t be in prison right now. And now you know, because I have appealed to you directly, Governor.
Nor am I, my supporters, Black Democrats nationally and liberals going to accept impotency from a Liberal Warrior. Trump’s MAGA world is giving out pardons left and right. He even pardoned Larry Hoover, the founder of the Chicago-based Gangster Disciples. You mean to tell me, you can’t release me to supervised parole? From the age of 21 to 59, I have no criminal history, except this single nonviolent wobbler at the age of 31. In 2024, at my annual review, I was described as a “model inmate.”
I am a native born Californian, Governor. I watched you single-handedly, as the mayor of San Francisco, provide same sex marriage, nationwide, to the LGBTQ community. I’ve also watched you feign impotence: “I can’t do anything; it’s up to the court … or the board.” In this age where Democrats are demanding their politicians do something, anything less would be unacceptable. Ever since passage of the Three Strikes law, we have been rolling back what it has done to Black and Brown communities. I look forward to the press release we’ll be issuing together, Governor, as you can be either my hero, or zero.
How you can join the Free C-Note in Black August movement?
Join the Facebook group Free C-Note in Black August, the movement to free Donald “C-Note” Hooker (CDCR #K94063) in Black August, known as the Black History Month alternative for freedom fighters. This group is a rally point for everyone committed to ending his decades-long incarceration and amplifying his voice as a prison artist and activist.
SHARE YOUR ACTION. Post updates, photos, videos, letters, anything you’ve done (or plan to do) to push C-Note’s freedom forward. Every petition signed, article written, call made or rally organized becomes proof that our pressure is growing.
CONNECT WITH C-NOTE DIRECTLY. Build strategy in real time by messaging him on the GTE GettingOut App (search: Donald Hooker, CDCR #K94063). Your words reach him inside and help shape the next steps.
USE THE HASHTAG EVERYWHERE. Tag every tweet, reel, article and flyer with #FreeCnoteInB1ackAugust so the fight surfaces across search engines, social feeds and newsrooms.
SEED THE WEB. Publish his story – blog posts, op-eds, podcast intros, art, music – on your own sites and socials. Digital bread crumbs create an indexed trail that journalists, influencers and decision-makers can’t ignore.
MOBILIZE DECISION-MAKERS. Flood the inboxes and phone lines of:
* The presiding judge (TBA);
* The Los Angeles County District Attorney;
* The California governor and state legislators;
* The federal judge overseeing California’s prison population reduction
* Local and national press and allied activists and organizations.
Tell them why C-Note’s continued imprisonment is a moral failure – and why his art, advocacy and rehabilitative record demand his immediate release!
C-Note is known as the world’s most prolific prison artist, who has written for the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, Mprisond Thotz, Inmate Blogger and more. He has been featured in Flaunt Magazine, Elucid Magazine, PEOPLE Magazine and more. Send our brother some love and light: Donald “C-Note” Hooker, K94063 (A2-150), P.O. Box 4430, Lancaster, CA 93539. And visit his website: https://www.c-note.org.
