After 4 1/2 decades, Elaine Wong is ready to walk free

If anyone has survival advice for the women serving unthinkably long prison sentences, it’s Elaine Wong. After four and a half decades inside CA prisons, Wong is finally walking free.

One anchor for her resilience has been, and continues to be, her strong ties to her family and culture. This would provide a lifeline in the decades to come.

Reflecting on her life, Wong characterized her childhood as loving and happy. She was born Sept. 29, 1950, and lived in Taiwan in her formative years. She began school at age four and a love of learning followed. In 1974, in her early 20s, Wong came to the United States in order to further her education. Two years later, she married Norman Wong, a guest speaker she met at college, and gave birth to their son, Glen, not long after.

But Wong had a gambling addiction. She fell into a pattern where she would borrow money from a loan shark she knew through her husband. Her husband had warned her not to deal with him.

“I did anyway,” she said, “for the quick money. We got into a relationship of me borrowing money from him and paying him back a few times. The third time I couldn’t pay it back and I wanted more time. He told me I had three days or he would sell my jewelry.”

Wong panicked. And she made a fateful decision: she brought a gun with her to see the man who had loaned her money. “I felt so desperate and didn’t know how to get out of it. I see now, I could have just left and lost the jewelry, so what. But at that time I didn’t understand enough. I shot him.”

Wong was arrested on Jan. 14, 1980, for murder with special circumstances. And around a year later, she was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole (LWOP), a sentence that had only recently been passed into law following the reinstatement of capital punishment in California.

That was it. Wong had been sentenced to die in prison. She arrived at the California Institute for Women (CIW) on Feb. 26, 1981.

Wong sought to make the best of her new life. Her husband visited her weekly, bringing their young son with him.

“I have a very loving husband. Norman made sure I had closeness with Glen,” Wong said. The frequent visits allowed Wong to maintain her place in the family as both a wife and mother.

On Oct. 23, 1987, Wong made another fateful decision: she attempted to escape from CIW.

Her last appeal had been denied and she felt hopeless. “There was nothing to lose, so why not?” Wong said. Wong was not successful in her escape, but the attempt led to a second felony charge to which she pled guilty in February, 1988.

Following CCWF’s activation, Wong was transferred, in part because of her escape attempt.

At CCWF, Wong strove to find her niche in the institution and to not let her heart become hardened, the ways she saw some other long-termers and lifers do over the years.

“When you become bitter, you let the system win,” Wong explained.

As the years passed, laws began to change. Incarcerated individuals began to see those sentenced to life terms be released through the Board of Prison Terms (later Board of Parole Hearings (BPH)), as well as a few LWOPs receive commutations. In 2017 and 2018, commutations rose under Governor Jerry Brown, who granted more than 150 commutations for individuals convicted of one felony. For anyone convicted of two or more felonies, a commutation of sentence has to be approved by the California Supreme Court (CSC).

Wong had submitted her commutation application and her case was sent to the CSC due to her escape conviction. Wong waited for a decision while she saw several LWOPs at CCWF commuted. It gave her hope. But on Dec. 26, 2018, just one day after Christmas, Wong was informed that the CSC had denied her request. She was one of 10 incarcerated individuals across California whose commutations were denied.

Wong was devastated, likening the feeling to being “sentenced to LWOP all over again.” After grieving, Wong chose to metaphorically dust herself off. And now she had a new reason to persevere – the upcoming birth of her first and only granddaughter, Iris. “There are no words I can use to describe being a grandma. The only word that comes close is ‘wow,” said Wong.

After Wong’s commutation was denied, Colby Lenz, an organizer and legal advocate for California Coalition for Women Prisoners (CCWP) reached out to Wong about filing another commutation or seeking to challenge the denial. “Colby helped me tremendously,” Wong said. “She wouldn’t give up and she wouldn’t let me give up.”

That perseverance paid off. On March 29, 2024, Wong’s sentence was commuted to 44 years-life by Gov. Gavin Newsom, one of two women commuted that day. With her new sentence, Wong would need to appear before the Board of Parole Hearings (BPH) within six months. The board still needed to find her suitable to parole.

When she was told she was no longer an LWOP, “my heart exploded. I knew I would be home soon, that I would reunite with my family and physically be with them,” Wong said.

But before Wong went before the BPH, a Los Angeles defense attorney filed a petition on Wong’s behalf under Assembly Bill 600, a law that gives Superior Court judges discretion to resentence incarcerated individuals. Wong appeared in court on Aug. 8, 2024. Supporters filled the room and many more submitted letters on Wong’s behalf. The judge, however, citing Wong’s sentence already having been commuted, declined to resentence her further.

One reason that Wong and her supporters were hoping for a resentence is that Wong has an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) hold mandating she be deported to Taiwan upon release. Individuals released from county jails are not necessarily deported whereas individuals released from prison are.

But, despite the disappointment of not being resentenced and released from court, the trip reinforced Wong’s belief in miracles.

“I was reminded of the miracle of how much a human spirit can endure and how much a human heart can hold. Once you think you’re broken, you’re not, “she said. “You can put yourself back together.”

On Sep. 11, 2024, Wong appeared before the BPH and was found suitable for parole, with a projected release date in mid-February. But she is still in a state of limbo because of the ICE hold which, she said, puts “a damper on my family, especially my son.” Wong expressed that there is uncertainty about her deportation based on the age of her case. She will not know for certain until she is scheduled to be released.

As a result, Wong is making parole plans for both countries. Her parents still live in Taiwan and she is very close with them. But given that her immediate family is in the US, she is hoping to remain here.

Should she be allowed to remain, she wants to volunteer with CCWP as well as Sister Warriors Freedom Coalition. Her granddaughter has told her to “hurry up and come home” so Wong can teach her to read and write in Chinese.

Wong also looks forward to the simple joys of life: grocery shopping, cooking with loved ones, and traveling. As a Buddhist, Wong wants to visit Tibet, which was forbidden when she lived in Taiwan.

She hopes to maintain some of the relationships she has cultivated in CCWF and CIW once she is paroled. She noted that people kept in touch with her over the years, so wants to do the same. For new LWOPs, lifers and long termers, Wong’s advice is to “never lose hope. My Dad told me that no matter how dark the situation is, if you look hard enough there is always light. You just have to look for it and don’t close your eyes.”

After four and a half decades incarcerated, Wong’s sentiment resonates: If anyone can serve as a bastion of hope, it is she.