Woman served 27 years in U.S. for stealing VCR
CANADIAN NOW AWAITING DEPORTATION
Afriend described Michele Thiesen as gentle, a pacifist. Her crimes were nonviolent. But under a California law instated during the tough-on-crime 1990s, the Canadian woman served nearly three decades in prison before being released last week.
Thiesen spent the last 27 years in prison for stealing a VCR.
In the middle of the night in 1994, court documents say, she broke into a home through a kitchen window. She thought the place was empty, but it wasn’t, and she ran — VCR in tow — when she heard someone call out.
Her criminal history also includes petty theft, drug charges, prostitution and another burglary.
Thiesen, who is Canadian but was arrested in California, was sentenced under the state’s Three Strikes law, which sharply increases sentencing requirements for defendants who have been convicted of a prior serious or violent felony.
When Thiesen was sentenced for the burglary, the law mandated she receive at least 25 years to life to account for her previous crimes. She was sentenced to 40 years to life.
Milena Blake, Thiesen’s lawyer and a staff attorney at the Three Strikes Project at Stanford University’s law school, said Thiesen’s story is a classic example of someone caught up in the law.
“She had an alcoholic father who suddenly died when she was 17, and she turned to drugs to sort of self-medicate, and that was that,” Blake said. “Once you’re hooked on heroin, it’s an expensive drug to support.”
Though the law was amended in 2012 to soften it somewhat, Blake said Thiesen would still face at least 25 years to life in prison if
she had been arrested this year.
In prison, Blake says, Thiesen committed her time to self improvement. She took advantage of numerous educational activities, addiction services, ethics trainings and more. Guards wrote letters of support for her release.
“I read a lot of prison files, and it’s pretty unusual to have a guard letter of recommendation for getting out,” Blake said. “It’s their job to keep her in and, they’re like, ‘She would be fine to come out,’ That’s pretty remarkable.”
Jennifer Leahy, a friend of Thiesen’s from prison, said Thiesen was like a big sister to her. Leahy said Thiesen was focused on creating a safe place for people to exist and committed to talking through problems.
“She always finds the solution that’s going to cause the least amount of harm or disruption,” Leahy said. “That’s her pathway, to walk softly in the world. She’s gentle in nature and in spirit.”
Leahy, who is now Fresno State’s program director for Project Rebound, a re-entry program for the formerly incarcerated, said she’s seen a lot during and since her time in prison, but nothing floors her as much as what happened to Thiesen.
“The woman’s been incarcerated for how long? And she has never even been in a fight,” Leahy said. “It’s just so striking and startling and shocking that they would put, I mean, the millions of dollars that have been wasted incarcerating Michele.”
In 2019, Thiesen got a recommendation for resentencing from California’s secretary of corrections, which Blake said fewer than 100 people had received at the time. To be granted this recommendation, the secretary had to conclude that Thiesen had “changed as a person and would be a positive asset to the community,” according to the penal code.
A judge ruled last year to resentence Thiesen to 25 years to life, making her immediately eligible for parole. She was deemed eligible for release, though it wasn’t clear whether she would be deported to Canada.
Blake and Leahy both waited outside the correctional centre last Tuesday, hoping to pick Thiesen up, but she was taken into ICE custody. Blake said the wait time until Thiesen can return to her siblings in Canada is expected to be about 90 days, though they’re hoping to work with the Canadian consulate to speed it up.
Leahy waved to her longtime friend as she watched her climb in the ICE van. She plans to visit her in Canada as soon as possible.
Blake said Thiesen isn’t worried about the three-month wait. She’s been waiting decades for this moment, after all.
THAT’S HER PATHWAY ... SHE’S GENTLE IN NATURE AND IN SPIRIT.