The May 2017 CPF newsletter contained articles relating to:
PA Senate Bill 293 – to eliminate murder of the second degree
Aging Out Resolution – Gray Panthers
For more info on either of the above contact: Kevin Butler #BWE9886
James Inge, AF-8705, [64 years old. Service a life sentence at the SCI at Graterford for the past 44 years] asked CPF to publish the following. (July 5, 2017)
I am writing to seek CPF community support for a modification of PA’s parole laws which would grant parole review for rehabilitated elderly senior lifers who have been incarcerated for forty (40) or more years.
PA has approximately 300 elderly lifers, 60 years of age or older, who have been incarcerated for the past 40 to 60 years. Some of these inmates were sentenced at a very young age when they were not mature or educated well enough to understand the laws and the possible benefits of accepting a plea bargain. Con sequentially, they are now serving life in prison without the possibility of parole for the same crimes for which they were originally offered a lesser sentence if they were to choose not to go to trial.
I have written to all the Members of the Senate and House of Representatives very humbly asking that they support my proposed amendment to the current Parole Statute. The amended statute should read as follows:
Elderly seniors, age sixty-five (65) or older who are serving a life sentence and who have served at least forty (40) years of that sentence,
may petition the PA Board of Probation and Parole for parole review.
This proposed legislative amendment is in line with current state law for sentencing juveniles convicted of murder to 35 years to life. Therefore, it seems reasonable to ask the legislature to propose a forty (40) year minimum sentence for adults convicted of murder, seeking parole review.
Research shows that a forty (40) year minimum sentence is on the high end of sentencing for murderers in comparison to those sentences given for murderers in many states. Additionally, a forty (40) year minimum could particularly target offenders sentenced to life in prison before the age of twenty-three. A sentence of forty (40) years is an extremely lengthy sentence. Taking into account the necessity to give an offender this type of a sentence at such a young age should urge the Parole Board to consider whether or not immaturity played a role in an offender’s commission of a crime … Today, advancements in neuroscience indicate that the human brain does not fully develop/mature until at least the age of twenty- three (23).
Only a very small number of inmates who are lifers would be immediately affected by this proposed amended legislation; it would be approximately three hundred (300) lifers. Moreover, this proposed legislation would create no right to parole, so it will not allow the most dangerous inmates to go free. The Board of Probation and Parole will continue to responsibly reject requests for parole from those who do not deserve it, or who present too great a safety risk to the public.
Members of the Senate and House of Representatives are aware that many elderly senior lifers who committed murder as young adults have since made great strides in maturity and decision making over their many years of incarceration. Therefore, I ask legislators if it is feasible to extend the financial burden upon taxpayers for the continuation of incarceration without parole for elderly senior lifers who have shown success in achieving rehabilitation.
For the above reasons and in the spirit of criminal justice reform, I am asking that you, the CPF community write, fax, or email:
The Hon. Stewart J. Greenleaf Chairman, Judiciary Committee Senate of Pennsylvania
You can also contact your legislator… go to the General Assembly’s website (legis.state. pa.us) click on the name and link for your senator or representative. Please express your support for a legislative amendment to the current parole statute that would make it possible to grant parole review for rehabilitated elderly senior lifers who have been incarcerated for forty (40) or more years. It is time for PA to end life without parole for rehabilitated elderly senior lifers and to allow upstanding inmates the opportunity for parole review
