December 2011 Philadelphia Chapter of Pax Christi U.S.A.

Life Without Parole: Worse Than Death

After formally ending New Mexico's death penalty, Gov. Richardson toured the maximum security unit where offenders sentenced to life without parole would be held and said "these cells are something that may be worse than death. I believe this is a just punishment." An editorial in the Dallas Morning News promoting LWOP for Texas said; "It's harsh. It's just. And it's final without being irreversible. Call it a living death." Juries, aware of the number of death sentences overturned because people on death row are found innocent, find it easier to sentence defendants to living death - life without the possibility of parole (LWOP).

In the 2008 report of the Sentencing Project statistics indicate an increase in the use of LWOP. Key findings in this report:

• 29% (41,095) of individuals serving life sentences have no possibility of parole.

• Over the last quarter century, the number of individuals serving life sentences has quadrupled from 34,000 in 1984 to 140,610 in 2008.

• Pennsylvania has 4,343 people sentenced to life without parole, 9.4% of the prison population.

Pennsylvania is one of six states in which a life sentence means life without parole. The ethnic distribution in our state in 2008 was: Black 63% (2,742), White 27.6% (1,200); Hispanic 8.2% (356). In Pennsylvania there is little chance for parole because the request must receive the approval of the Board of Pardons. Since 1997 this vote must be unanimous so the requests never reach the desk of the Governor who must give the final approval. One of the recommendations of the Sentencing Project is for a Board of Pardons, in every state, that is staffed by correctional professionals instead of political appointees.

In an editorial (Phila. Inquirer July 18, 2010) Karen Heller writes: "The U.S. leads the world in incarcerating juveniles for life without the possibility of parole. And Pennsylvania leads all states, by far, with at least 450 charged with homicide committed when they were juveniles, some as young as 14 now serving LWOP sentences". Mandatory sentence laws require LWOP for adults and juveniles convicted of first or second degree murder. There is very little rehabilitation for these juveniles. Some are subjected to sexual abuse when placed with the adult prison population. All who work on JLWOP cases are aware that these prisoners are serving time for crimes committed when their brains were not fully formed; when they did not fully understand the consequences of their actions; when they were more susceptible to peer pressure.

In June 2010 a bill was introduced abolishing juvenile life imprisonment without parole allowing prisoners to apply at age 31 for parole, then every 3 years thereafter.

Conditions in prison for LWOP prisoners are not good. In an interview with a lifer in a New York prison recently, the discussion turns to a punishment known as The Box, also known as a "close supervision unit". No personal belongings are allowed and practically no exercise or human contact. In 2009, the average amount of time spent in the Box by New York prisoners was 112 days. State records show that there were 20 suicides in 2010, double the number in 2009 and the highest since 1978, the first year such records were kept. Some suicides take place in the Box but most are carried out by men in the general population who are serving very long sentences. (Liliana Segura, "The Abuse Inside Our Prisons", Catholic Worker, March 2011) Last year prisoners at California Pelican Bay prison went on a hunger strike to protest the practice of isolating some prisoners for more than 22 hours a day. The strike spread until thousands of prisoners were participating. Only when officials agreed to review the use of solitary confinement did the prisoners accept food. Solitary

confinement constitutes cruel and unusual punishment - torture- and many think it should be abolished.

Remember those who are in prison, as though you were there in prison with them, those who are being tortured as though you yourselves were being tortured” Hebrews 13:3

The condition of severe overcrowding in prisons was addressed by the U.S. Supreme Court which ordered the state of California on May 23, 2011 to shed 46,000 prisoners on the grounds that their living conditions - including lethally inadequate health care - were so intolerable as to be cruel and unusual punishment. Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony Kennedy said: "Depriving prisoners of basic sustenance including adequate medical care, is incompatible with the concept of human dignity and has no place in civilized society."

Costs of our prisons increase. Pennsylvania plans to add 9,000 new beds to its prison system. The first addition will almost double the size of Graterford Prison. In a state with a $4 billion budget deficit, the Department of Corrections' operating budget is almost $2 billion and that does not include another $800 million in the capital budget for the construction of four new prisons, one of them the addition to Graterford already mentioned. William DeMascio, president of the watchdog Pennsylvania Prison Society, says "Pennsylvania could save millions of dollars immediately by bringing its prisoners back from rented cells in Michigan and Virginia." Pennsylvania spends $32,000 a year on each of 51,000 inmates. With age, the cost can accelerate to $200,000 a year at the time when an inmate is at lowest risk of committing criminal violence.

There is an organization at Graterford of men who are Vietnam War veterans. Honorably discharged from the service, they are now serving life sentences without the possibility of parole. Some have been imprisoned over 40 years and have worked and studied to prepare themselves to return to society. They cannot access their veterans' benefits; and they cannot vote. In many European countries incarcerated individuals can vote. Most of these veterans have been diagnosed as having post-traumatic stress disorder. But health care, including mental health care, is inadequate.

Another group suffering from the LWOP are the women lifers. Two examples: one, Sharon Wiggins was convicted of murder at the age of 15. She was on death row for 3 years then sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Now 60 she has the distinction of being the longest, continually confined female juvenile lifer in the world. Two: Geraldine Lucas has been in prison 40 years. She is 79 years old and blind. "The inhumanity of continuing to incarcerate a blind septuagenarian after 40 years speaks for itself... At SCI Muncy many other women are serving life without parole, just like them. They are sick, infirm, and surely no threat to society. Most have been long reformed. So why are they still in prison? What is being gained?" (Lee Horton, "Forgotten Women", Graterfriends, October 2010)

And what about the Catholic Church? The 2000 statement from the U.S. Bishops says very clearly that we must get rid of the death penalty, but there is no mention of the effect of "the other death penalty" we have been discussing. In October 2011 the online edition of Catholic San Francisco reads: "The Field Poll illustrates that the time has come to replace the practice of the death penalty with life in prison without the possibility of parole", said Catherine Huston, coordinator of the Catholic Campaign to End the Use of the Death Penalty at the Archdiocese of San Francisco Office of Public Policy and Social Concerns.

The outlook of most Catholics follows that of those calling for abolition of the death penalty. But given the effect of life without parole sentences, we must look at the recent reports that the use of LWOP is expanding to use for other crimes, even shoplifting. The state of Georgia, which is one of the few states with good data on LWOP, reports that in the last decade 60 % of offenders sentenced to life without parole were convicted of murder; the other 40% were for other crimes. (New York Times, "The Misuse of Life Without Parole", Sept. 12, 2011)

The Sentencing Project ends its report on life sentences with 3 recommendations:

l. Eliminate sentences of life without parole especially juvenile life without parole (only the U.S. does this)

1. Prepare persons sentenced to life for release from prison. In Canada there is an effective program called Lifeline in which people who have obtained parole work with those who are scheduled to leave prison.

2. As already mentioned, parole boards must be staffed by correctional professionals instead of political appointees. And in Pennsylvania we must get rid of the law requiring unanimous vote by the parole board before a request for commutation can

be presented to the Governor.

For more information:

--The Sentencing Project www.sentencingproject.org (especially the July 2009 report, "No Exit")

--The Pennsylvania Prison Society www.prisonsociety.org

--The Other Death Penalty Project www.theother deathpenalty.org

Phyllis Grady

Phyllis is a member of CPF

Another Resource:

Seeking Restorative Justice in the Prison System: From Condemnation to Conversation, Stephen J. Pope, America, November 21, 2011