James Tramel (born c. 1967) is an Episcopal priest who was ordained while serving prison time for murder, and is the first person ever ordained in the Episcopal Church while still in prison. [1] Soon after being paroled from prison in 2006, he became rector of Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco. He has been a public spokesman for prisoners' rights, testifying in favor of parole for juvenile offenders [2] and supporting prisoner-victim reconciliation programs. [3]
Tramel was 17 years old and attending Northwestern Preparatory School, a private military preparatory academy in Santa Barbara. He had been nominated to the United States Air Force Academy by Senator Barry Goldwater. On August 3, 1985, Tramel was present during the fatal stabbing of a 29-year-old homeless man in a park in Santa Barbara by David Kurtzman, who claimed he had mistaken his identity for that of a gang member who had attacked a fellow student. [4] Tramel and his then-roommate were both sentenced to a minimum of 15 years in prison for second-degree murder. [5] While in prison he took correspondence courses, earning an undergraduate degree in business and a master's degree in theology. [6] He was ordained in 2005, while still an inmate at Solano State Prison, by Bishop William E. Swing. [7]
Swing harshly criticized Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2004 when the governor denied Tramel's parole, calling Schwarzenegger "a 90-pound moral weakling". In March 2006, Schwarzenegger reversed his decision and paroled Tramel. [8] Eighteen years into his sentence it came to light that his co-defendant's confession, which gave direct evidence that Tramel did not participate in the murder nor have knowledge that Kurtzman was going to attack anyone, had been suppressed and not made available to the jury. Tramel was subsequently paroled with the support of the Santa Barbara District Attorney's office, numerous California State Senators and Representatives, scores of prison staff, and hundreds of members of the community. His conviction is now in the process of being vacated pursuant to SB 1437.
Immediately upon his parole, Tramel began serving as an assistant pastor at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Berkeley, California. [6] In July 2006 he was named Interim Rector of St. Alban's Episcopal Church in Albany, CA, and in October of 2006 he was elected as Rector of the historic Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco, CA. [9]
In November 2007, he was suspended for two years from his ministry for having a five week extra-marital affair with a woman who lived next door to his parish while he was in the process of a divorce. When Tramel ended the relationship, the woman then claimed she was seeking counseling and threatened to sue the Episcopal Church. The church did not initially contest the accusation because Tramel acknowledged the relationship but it subsequently modified the church discipline to adultery when the woman admitted that the relationship was consensual and she was not a member of his parish as initially claimed. [10]
Tramel is the founder of the Entheos Community, a global collective of makers, healers, artists, curators, scientists, and leaders on six continents from more than 43 different countries. Members of the Entheos Community also organize a Burning Man camp, Entheos, that also attends regional events with large-scale art and interactivity.
Stanley Tookie Williams III was an American gangster who co-founded and led the Crips gang in Los Angeles. He and Raymond Washington formed an alliance in 1971 that established the Crips as Los Angeles' first major African-American street gang. During the 1970s, Williams was the de facto leader of the Crips and the prominent crime boss in South Los Angeles.
Pelican Bay State Prison (PBSP) is a supermax prison facility in Crescent City, California. The 275-acre (111 ha) prison takes its name from a shallow bay on the Pacific coast, about 2 mi (3.2 km) to the west.
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Patricia Dianne Krenwinkel is an American convicted murderer and former member of the Manson Family. During her time with Manson's group, she was known by various aliases such as Big Patty, Yellow, Marnie Reeves and Mary Ann Scott, but to The Family, she was most commonly known as Katie.
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The United States Penitentiary, Atwater is a high-security United States federal prison for male inmates in unincorporated Merced County, California. The institution also includes a minimum-security satellite camp. It is operated by the Federal Bureau of Prisons, a division of the United States Department of Justice.
Central California Women's Facility (CCWF) is a female-only California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison located in Chowchilla, California. It is across the road from Valley State Prison. CCWF is the second largest female correctional facility in the United States, and houses the only State of California death row for women.
Victor Sokolov was a Russian-American former dissident Soviet journalist and an Eastern Orthodox priest.
California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility and State Prison, Corcoran (SATF) is a male-only state prison located in the city of Corcoran, in Kings County, California, specifically designed to house inmates who have substance use disorder. It is sometimes referred to as California Substance Abuse Treatment Facility, and Corcoran II.
California State Prison, Solano (SOL) is a male-only state prison located in the city of Vacaville, Solano County, California, adjacent to the California Medical Facility. The facility is also referenced as Solano State Prison, CSP-Solano, and CSP-SOL.
William Edwin Swing is a retired bishop of the Episcopal Church in the United States. He was the Bishop of California, based in San Francisco, from 1980 to 2006.
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George Nelson Hunt III was the Episcopal Bishop of Rhode Island from 1980 to 1994.
John Pares Craine was the eighth bishop of the Diocese of Indianapolis in The Episcopal Church, serving from 1959 until his death on Christmas Eve in 1977, shortly before his scheduled retirement. He supported the ordination of women.
George West Barrett was an American Episcopal prelate who served as the fourth Bishop of Rochester between 1963 and 1969.