Claire Thirstling Wells was born 26 Dec 1900 in Pleasant Lake, IN to Horace Alvin Wells (1877-1948) & Elnora Lemmon (1872-1946).
Inmate:#54920 San Quentin Prison
Rec: 4 Nov 1933
Crime: 288 Pc
ENAL CODE - PEN
PART 1. OF CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS [25 - 680.4] ( Part 1 enacted 1872. )
TITLE 9. OF CRIMES AGAINST THE PERSON INVOLVING SEXUAL ASSAULT, AND CRIMES AGAINST PUBLIC DECENCY AND GOOD MORALS [261 - 368.7] ( Heading of Title 9 amended by Stats. 1982, Ch. 1111, Sec. 2. )
CHAPTER 5. Bigamy, Incest, and the Crime Against Nature [281 - 289.6] ( Chapter 5 enacted 1872. )
288.
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (i), a person who willfully and lewdly commits any lewd or lascivious act, including any of the acts constituting other crimes provided for in Part 1, upon or with the body, or any part or member thereof, of a child who is under the age of 14 years, with the intent of arousing, appealing to, or gratifying the lust, passions, or sexual desires of that person or the child, is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for three, six, or eight years.
(b) (1) A person who commits an act described in subdivision (a) by use of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the victim or another person, is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 5, 8, or 10 years.
(2) A person who is a caretaker and commits an act described in subdivision (a) upon a dependent person by use of force, violence, duress, menace, or fear of immediate and unlawful bodily injury on the victim or another person, with the intent described in subdivision (a), is guilty of a felony and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for 5, 8, or 10 years.
(c) (1) A person who commits an act described in subdivision (a) with the intent described in that subdivision, and the victim is a child of 14 or 15 years, and that person is at least 10 years older than the child, is guilty of a public offense and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for one, two, or three years, or by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year. In determining whether the person is at least 10 years older than the child, the difference in age shall be measured from the birth date of the person to the birth date of the child.
(2) A person who is a caretaker and commits an act described in subdivision (a) upon a dependent person, with the intent described in subdivision (a), is guilty of a public offense and shall be punished by imprisonment in the state prison for one, two, or three years, or by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year.
(d) In any arrest or prosecution under this section or Section 288.5, the peace officer, district attorney, and the court shall consider the needs of the child victim or dependent person and shall do whatever is necessary, within existing budgetary resources, and constitutionally permissible to prevent psychological harm to the child victim or to prevent psychological harm to the dependent person victim resulting from participation in the court process.
(e) (1) Upon the conviction of a person for a violation of subdivision (a) or (b), the court may, in addition to any other penalty or fine imposed, order the defendant to pay an additional fine not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000). In setting the amount of the fine, the court shall consider any relevant factors, including, but not limited to, the seriousness and gravity of the offense, the circumstances of its commission, whether the defendant derived any economic gain as a result of the crime, and the extent to which the victim suffered economic losses as a result of the crime. Every fine imposed and collected under this section shall be deposited in the Victim-Witness Assistance Fund to be available for appropriation to fund child sexual exploitation and child sexual abuse victim counseling centers and prevention programs pursuant to Section 13837.
(2) If the court orders a fine imposed pursuant to this subdivision, the actual administrative cost of collecting that fine, not to exceed 2 percent of the total amount paid, may be paid into the general fund of the county treasury for the use and benefit of the county.
(f) For purposes of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) and paragraph (2) of subdivision (c), the following definitions apply:
(1) “Caretaker” means an owner, operator, administrator, employee, independent contractor, agent, or volunteer of any of the following public or private facilities when the facilities provide care for elder or dependent persons:
(A) Twenty-four hour health facilities, as defined in Sections 1250, 1250.2, and 1250.3 of the Health and Safety Code.
(B) Clinics.
(C) Home health agencies.
(D) Adult day health care centers.
(E) Secondary schools that serve dependent persons and postsecondary educational institutions that serve dependent persons or elders.
(F) Sheltered workshops.
(G) Camps.
(H) Community care facilities, as defined by Section 1402 of the Health and Safety Code, and residential care facilities for the elderly, as defined in Section 1569.2 of the Health and Safety Code.
(I) Respite care facilities.
(J) Foster homes.
(K) Regional centers for persons with developmental disabilities.
(L) A home health agency licensed in accordance with Chapter 8 (commencing with Section 1725) of Division 2 of the Health and Safety Code.
(M) An agency that supplies in-home supportive services.
(N) Board and care facilities.
(O) Any other protective or public assistance agency that provides health services or social services to elder or dependent persons, including, but not limited to, in-home supportive services, as defined in Section 14005.14 of the Welfare and Institutions Code.
(P) Private residences.
(2) “Board and care facilities” means licensed or unlicensed facilities that provide assistance with one or more of the following activities:
(A) Bathing.
(B) Dressing.
(C) Grooming.
(D) Medication storage.
(E) Medical dispensation.
(F) Money management.
(3) “Dependent person” means a person, regardless of whether the person lives independently, who has a physical or mental impairment that substantially restricts his or her ability to carry out normal activities or to protect his or her rights, including, but not limited to, persons who have physical or developmental disabilities or whose physical or mental abilities have significantly diminished because of age. “Dependent person” includes a person who is admitted as an inpatient to a 24-hour health facility, as defined in Sections 1250, 1250.2, and 1250.3 of the Health and Safety Code.
(g) Paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) and paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) apply to the owners, operators, administrators, employees, independent contractors, agents, or volunteers working at these public or private facilities and only to the extent that the individuals personally commit, conspire, aid, abet, or facilitate any act prohibited by paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) and paragraph (2) of subdivision (c).
(h) Paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) and paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) do not apply to a caretaker who is a spouse of, or who is in an equivalent domestic relationship with, the dependent person under care.
(i) (1) A person convicted of a violation of subdivision (a) shall be imprisoned in the state prison for life with the possibility of parole if the defendant personally inflicted bodily harm upon the victim.
(2) The penalty provided in this subdivision shall only apply if the fact that the defendant personally inflicted bodily harm upon the victim is pled and proved.
(3) As used in this subdivision, “bodily harm” means any substantial physical injury resulting from the use of force that is more than the force necessary to commit the offense.(Amended by Stats. 2018, Ch. 70, Sec. 2. (AB 1934) Effective January 1, 2019.)
When he was 19 he was admitted to the Sonoma State Hospital on 19 Oct 1917 and continued being a patient until 1919, but the 1920 census has him still here.
I know it's a bad copy I tried to filter it as best as I could. It states his mother was feeble minded and he was diagnosed as having Moron Epilepsie, he had fainting spells. He was admitted through the Whittier Reform School.
Here's a few photos of the State Hospital.
3 May 1916 he was received at Whittier Reform School.
He was having sexual problems at a young age, he was deaf and had no sight in one eye and bad sight in the other and fits of epilepsy. He had his tonsils & adenoids removed.
1921 he was in Alcatraz for desertion for a 1 year term. He was in Los Angeles Jail for being drunk in 1927.
After his discharge from the state hospital he was back living with his mother by the 1930 & 1940 census. He was in San Quentin in 1933 and again in 1942 for the same offense.
Inmate: #68408 San Quentin Prison
Rec: 20 May 1942
Crime: 288 PC
He was transferred to Folsom Prison 21 July 1942
I found a 1921 newspaper clipping he was a hobo Tracy, CA.
1931 he was again in the paper
Pacific Colony was in Pomona, California
The Pacific Colony facility, located at 3530 Pomona Blvd., opened its doors in 1927, and it contained nearly 2,000 individuals who were deemed unfit to thrive — and even a threat to society. See photos below.
His mother never remarried but his father whom he never knew because his parents divorced before he was born, was married several times.
Spouse & Children
Elnora Lemon
1872–1946
Claire Thirstling Wells
1900–1960
Spouse & Children
Lucy Ellen Robinson
1880–1930
Mark Robison Wells
1910–
Daniel Earl Wells
1915–1973
Harry Edson Wells
1922–2004
Spouse
Crissie Goudy
1891–1944
Claire died 20 Dec 1960 in San Luis Obispo, California. Here's the link to hi Find A Grave Memorial. I attached his parents to him and added other information to the memorial including his photo cropped of course. I also made him a tree added everything to it. I did however find another tree which had some of this information.
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/96251364/claire-wells
His mother worked in a laundry in Troy, CA while he was at Whittier. Feeblemindedness is no longer a term used it meant at the time, adjective. lacking the normal mental powers. Medicine/Medical. (no longer in technical use) mentally deficient. stupid or foolish; not sensible: feeble-minded remarks.
Below are some very interesting reading on the subject matter as well as one PDF with the criminal system and when it can be applied.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/social-sciences/feeblemindedness
http://eugenicsarchive.ca/discover/tree/535eebe87095aa0000000227
https://scholarlycommons.law.northwestern.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1665&context=jclc
Was Claire himself abused, yes it states this in his juvenile record that his peers he hung out with abused him. I am wondering why he was kept at the state hospital or the Pacific Colony. He had both medical and mental problems and I understand back then they just locked them up and threw away the key, but they did not do that with Claire. Although I do not excuse his behavior at all, I do feel sorry for him, he had no father and no role model, his mother and grandmother were all he had. I am surprised he was allowed to be in the military as he was deaf. I found his WWII Draft Card but no military record.
I also did not find his Alcatraz record.
What a life he must of had, how did he feel, or was he numb....
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