Jeffrey Panico  was arrested and sentenced to 25 years for a crime that only carries 5 years. They were trying to lock him up for life because of their own agenda. Too many times have these District Attorneys added ridiculous amounts of enhancement time and trumped up charges to cases simply to boost their own conviction rate. They don't care about the damage it does to the people they're sending away, or to the people who care about them. 

We need to understand that these Enhancement laws are prejudicial and racist, as they specifically target people of color and people who come from lower class neighborhoods, where the police are biased and eager to arrest minorities for Any infraction, Real or Imagined. These Laws are designed to add ridiculous amounts of time to people's sentences for any number of factors, and district attorney and police officers deliberately over charge offenders in order to be able to apply these enhancements. These laws Are Designed to Keep Blacks, Latinos, and Asians in Prison For As Long as Possible  so that the state can get paid every 6 months for every inmate they have in custody. Sounds eerily similar to slavery, don't you think?  

This petition isn't about the guilt or innocence of Jeffrey Panico. This is about Over Sentencing. The sentencing laws in California are ruthless and driven by the greed and money gained by the state for every inmate they have in custody. Don't mistake the propaganda put forth by those who push for long sentences over rehabilitation. It's money they're after, plain and simple. 

 Jeffrey Panico, has been in the system as a ward of the state since he barely became a teenager, and has been raised inside the system until he turned 18, with no family or means of support , then reincarcerated in the adult prison system. How is a man supposed to know anything other than the inside of the cells he was raised in? How can a man, who spent more time with Correctional officers than with his mother, Not be institutionalized? Where was the help for a young boy, who was incarcerated and alone, and why didn't the state ( his legal guardian) try to find out WHY this young man acted out? The answer is because they only cared about the money his incarceration generated, not about helping or rehabilitating him. 

Actual rehabilitation is a new concept for government when it concerns those incarcerated,  every other time they talked about it was just that,  talk. Now you can help someone who has been used by the system as a paycheck his whole life. Jeffrey Panico has taken advantage of every rehabilitation course he can get his hands on in an attempt to prove that he will no longer be a puppet of the system that has been his captor his whole life, and wants only to be a productive  member of society,  and spread his art and his message to help others, specifically troubled youth and victims of abuse. 

Jeffrey has used the nickname "Voodoo" in All his art since he was a child and got the nickname for his obsession with "Zapps" Voodoo potato chips. He's an abstract thinker and loves art and architectural design. His plan once released is to open up a tattoo/art studio, then build homes for the less fortunate using shipping containers.