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BOOK REVIEW: FELONIES BEFORE BIRTH BY

RANDALL COLE

By Joan Moss

June 2, 2011

As a journalist, I try to read a book a week, and this book

by Randall Cole who lives in Lake County is a must read for

those of us interested in the justice system from more than one

perspective.

Having grown up in Oakland, done time at San Quentin

and the Lake County Jail, Cole gives the perspective of a

dynamic questioning convicted felon an inmate who writes

about God, Jesus, the Spiritual, on every page, and carries hisrainbow colored sword, his Bible, with him into court.

Cole begins his journey without knowing how to read,

even though he attended 12 years of public school in Oakland.

Coles mother was also a fighter, having worked her way

through nursing school, becoming a nurse. Cole writes about

his life as a drug addict, a drug dealer, and a pimp.

I learned more about San Quentin than I ever knew

before, down to the gigantic rats that come at night to eat thefood thrown down from the tiers of the cells. I didnt know that

an old San Quentin existed beneath the present San Quentin.

It was at San Quentin that Cole learned to read, took

classes and became a refrigeration and air conditioning

technician. He also learned to question his conviction of a four

strikes felon, crimes he pled to at the advice of his public

pretender, but crimes he did not comit.

I especially enjoyed the trial scenes, and the view of Lake

County and its justice system, two things I am familiar with. Ilove to watch the courts.

Cole is entertaining, he tells his truth, and sometimes his

situation are so real they seem comical, such as his problems

with a landlord I seem to know.

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So often we ask ourselves, How can this be worse? and

then we find out.

I agree with Cole that in a tight situation, God and the

Holy Spirit are there for us. I experienced this when going

through treatment for breast cancer last year.I enjoyed him describing police officers, judges, and

correctional officers that I seem to know.

I could not believe the adversity that Cole experienced,

especially when traveling to Pelican Bay in a bus with shackles

on him that were made for a man of 5 feet 10 inches. Cole is 6

feet 5 inches.

The book hangs together. Cole tells a good story. I

learned a lot that I didnt know before. Cole learned how to filepapers and fight back and trust in God. He admits that he is no

angel. I do not agree with him on every point, but his writing

and his perspective are important views of the other side of

the story.

FELONIES BEFORE BIRTH is worth reading. It is The

Real Thing from Randall Cole,