Golden State Today

Michael Montalvo's last hope to see his grandchildren outside of prison before he dies rests in President Donald Trump's hands.

Montalvo has been incarcerated in maximum security penitentiaries around the country since May 1997 for a conviction of continuing criminal enterprise from 1983-86.

The 74-year-old Los Angeles native, who has two daughters and three grandchildren, saw his 2014 request for clemency denied by President Barack Obama. He resubmitted his application in hopes that Trump grants clemency like he did for several others in February.

“Michael is a Vietnam war veteran whose only hope for freedom rests with President Trump,” Amy Povah, founder of the CAN-DO Foundation, told Golden State Today. “Unlike 98% of the federal prison population, Michael was sentenced in between the old law and new law which is exempt from ever receiving a compassionate release.”

Povah said Montalvo has maintained exemplary conduct in almost 33 years served of the mandatory minimum sentence of life without parole. The warden at FCI Phoenix supports his release.

Montalvo served in the Vietnam War, earning an honorable discharge. He used the GI Bill to go to college in California, working in small businesses through the 1970s. He told CAN-DO Foundation that “from 1983 to June 1986 I made a series of terrible choices that led me to get involved in drugs with a few friends.”

He said he turned his life around but was arrested in 1987. Rather than accepting a plea agreement, he went to trial and was convicted in 1989.

“Because I used my right to a jury trial, I suffered the 'trial penalty' and the prosecutor asked for a life sentence based on estimated drug amounts from one informant`s claims,” Montvalo told CAN-DO.

His three co-defendants received sentences between 10 and 18 years.

While incarcerated, Montalvo earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business and a law degree. His education also includes graduating from more than 100 Bureau of Prisons programs.

He works in the prison’s education department, tutoring and mentoring younger men and those who have mental health issues, CAN-DO Foundation said.

“I look at my mistakes of 35 years ago and I can clearly see my recklessness and faulty thinking. I deeply regret the pain I have caused my family and loved ones,” Montalvo said. “I have tried to better myself and learn as much as possible while in prison so I can help my fellow prisoners prepare themselves to be responsible and contributing members of society when they return to the free world.”

He was approved in 2014 by the warden, staff and unit team for compassionate release with a recommendation to the director of the Bureau of Prisons. CAN-DO Foundation said, however, that compassionate release is not allowed for pre-1987 non-parolable life sentences.