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FAMILIES UNITED TO END LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE
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FUEL Organizers & Actions:
Jeffrey Roberts
The most important part of my story is the memory of Mr. Diyet Dinh Vu, his family, Mr. and Mrs. Eugene Alterman and their family, as well as the countless others I have victimized in my lifetime. They did not deserve to be treated in such a violent callous way and to...
Harlan King
Dear FUEL Brothers and Sisters, My name is Harlan Bayard King. CDCR# C-75234, commitment date June 7th, 1982. I was 10 days past my 21st birthday when I fell. I am now 61. I spent 30 in CDCR before I interstate transferred to my home state of Oklahoma in 2012. My four...
Carlos Contreras
Hello I am Carlos Contreras who wants to participate in your organization. I am part of the Redemption Row California-a Prison Project. I’ve heard promising support and efforts in helping us inmates to come home through legal activism. Plus, you allow our families to...
Welcome to FUEL (Families United to End Life Without Parole): a non-profit organization dedicated to advocating for justice and reform in the criminal justice system. Join us in our fight for justice, compassion, and a more equitable future.
Our Work:
FUEL participates in a wide variety of actions that include rallies, caravans, meetings, picnic, webinars, LWOP strategy workshops, and additional activities and events that increase awareness and advocacy to end LWOP. Check out our calendar to be a part of future events!
Our Mission:
To end all forms of the death penalty – death by incarceration as well as death by injection. Further, we support incarcerated persons with LWOP sentences and assist families in gaining the skills and knowledge to advocate for the end of LWOP.
Our Background:
We began as a small group making a concerted effort to grow through social media and word of mouth, both inside prison and in the community. In just a few months, the core group expanded their numbers and took on a name that reflected our purpose. The group became known as Families United to End LWOP – FUEL.
Through broad outreach within the criminal justice community, and inside the prisons, within a short period, the group became a source of hope for both women and men serving the “other death penalty”, and an organizing tool for their loved ones in the communities. FUEL partnered with other organizations and joined coalitions which were also engaged in the movement to end LWOP, most significantly, the Drop LWOP coalition.
As the group organized in the community, men and women on the inside began to form Inside FUEL chapters within their facilities, which helped to generate pro-social activity and inspire hope while developing ideas toward ending LWOP. We believe that no one should be defined by their worst decision in life. These motivated men and women raised money for FUEL, as well as funds for charities dedicated to crime survivors. In addition to money, they have donated beautiful handicraft and high valued art that they created. Inside FUEL have also invited coalition members into prisons to create a sense of unity while vigorously organizing.
FUEL members have launched petitions telling their loved one’s story and appealing to the Governor for clemency. The group also launched a petition on behalf of all serving LWOP and delivered it to Governor Brown in November of 2018 during their Seeking Redemption Rally. Material from men and women in prisons throughout the state were part of the packet given to the Governor. Constantly seeking ways to share the humanity of people serving the “other death penalty” has been the motivation to create individual brochures for the men and women. These have given those serving LWOP and their family members a way to tell their story.
FUEL holds rallies in Sacramento and has directed caravans around prison facilities experiencing high incidents of needless covid deaths. The group has participated in numerous panels, led seminars, co-sponsored Town Halls and held workshops on commutations in the communities and within the prison facilities. We are proud to be co-sponsors, with other powerful groups in the state, of SB 300 a piece of legislation challenging the LWOP sentence.
Among our happiest moments was welcoming the husbands of two of our core members home from serving the unforgiving sentence of LWOP. We fight for that to repeat itself until everyone serving the other death penalty is given the opportunity to come hope. The fight continues!
PRISON POLICY NEWS
INSIDE FUEL
Ruhani Bustamante
My name is Ruhani Bustamante. By the age of eleven, I experienced incarceration; throughout my teens Juvenile Hall had become my home, although occasionally I came home, one month here, two months there. Freedom as a teenager as far as I can recall are snapshot...
Ronnell Ross
I’ve been in a prison for 43 years with a sentence of life without the Possibility of Parole/LWOP. In 1978 at the young age of 22, I made a terrible, life altering mistake. In believing I was protecting my home from intruders, I shot and killed an undercover,...
Rollin Denem
I am Rollin Denem. I ‘m putting a little bit of my story on paper because I want you all out there to know not only who I was, but who I am today. I am originally from South Central, LA. At the time of the crime I am incarcerated for; I was 18 years old. None of my...
Susan Clevenger
My name is Susan Clevenger and in August 2000, I was sentenced to three Life Sentences without the possibility of Parole(LWOP) for attempted kidnapping and murder of Bradley St. Clair. I was not there when my co-defendant/boyfriend killed Brad. I do not say that to...
Peter Carmorlinga
My name is Peter Carmorlinga; I’m a 39-year-old high school graduate, and the youngest of three. I come from a loving family and was highly regarded by my peers, teachers, and my community. Then, in 2000 I was convicted of first-degree murder and received a sentence...
Zachary Flanders
I am sitting down today and write a letter to FUEL & others in order to portray the life of an inmate with a sentence of LWOP, a sentence where the word hope does not exist and the light at the end of the tunnel is hard to see. A condemnation signifying one cannot...