Most voters who support "three-strikes you're out" laws assume that only criminals convicted of violent offenses wind up serving life terms under the law. Prisoners know otherwise. Behind bars, being a three striker is an embarrassment -- you're a loser too stupid to avoid being sent up for life for a petty crime. PNS commentator Jed Miller is a third-striker serving three concurrent life sentences for auto theft and bicycle theft at Pelican Bay Prison in Crescent City.

PELICAN BAY PRISON, CA. -- In March of 1994, I was convicted of stealing a car and two bicycles. Under California's new "Three Strikes and You're Out" law, I was given a sentence of 25 years to life for the auto theft, and 25 years to life for each of the bicycles -- sentences I'm serving concurrently at the state's maximum security Pelican Bay Prison.

When other inmates here learn that I'm a "three striker," they shake their heads and snort. The public may think the law applies only to the most dangerous offenders, but inmates know otherwise. There's no honor or notoriety attached to being a three-striker -- it's more of an embarrassment. We're the lepers of the prison community.

Timmy, known as "Youngster," is 20 years old, still too young to drink. Timmy's two prior strikes were both for assault and battery. In the California suburb where he grew up, the weekend entertainment among his peers was to go to "kegger" parties. Many of them would end in drunken brawls where the most serious injuries were usually a black eye or a fat lip. When the neighbors tired of the noise, they would call the police and some of the kids would be taken to jail.

Timmy's third strike was for possession of two grams of methamphetamine. Under the old sentencing laws, he'd get maybe two years, but now he has 25 to life. Effectively, the State of California has taken the rest of his life from him for a small amount of dope.

Arturo, 24, had two strikes for burglary; now he has two more. He was given 25 to life for each of the current charges, plus an extra year for having been to prison before, for a total of 51 years to life.

Most of the three-strikes inmates had no idea that the crimes for which they were convicted could qualify as strikes. They were under the impression that all strike offenses had to be violent or serious. Not so. Consider the latest "fresh meat" to arrive at Pelican Bay:

* Dale, 36; 25 to life for reckless driving.

* C.J., 27; 25 to life for a one-gram rock of cocaine.

* Ed, 32; 26 to life for shoplifting a blanket.

* Darnell, 24; 25 to life for selling marijuana.

* Hector, 23; 27 to life for auto theft.

In all of these cases the juries weren't informed that the defendants were facing life sentences under the new law. Had that fact been mentioned the prosecutor could have demanded a mistrial. In San Jose a jury convicted Anthony Garcia of shoplifting several pairs of pants from a department store. Later, when they learned of his possible sentence, some jurors wrote angry letters to the court stating that they felt "trapped" and "misled." Still, Mr. Garcia was given a sentence of 26 to life.

How do three-strikers endure the thought of spending life in prison for a relatively petty crime? Most of us convince ourselves that the law will be amended within several years. Without that faith in future justice, we'd have a very different attitude.

On the other hand, fellow inmates who are due to be released soon live with the fear that any slip-up will send them back to prison for life. Most of these men want to do well when they're paroled. But they also feel trapped because of their fear. Quite a few have told me that if they know a warrant has been issued for their arrest, they will carry a gun and go down fighting. If the government no longer differentiates between petty crime and murder, why should they?