On Tuesday, August 21, incarcerated people across the United States and Canada began a 19-day strike in response to the riot at Lee Correctional Institution in South Carolina and to call out the horrendous conditions they face in prison facilities. The Lee Correctional Institution incident took place on April 15 and resulted in seven deaths… Read More
A prison sentence of life without parole is the harshest sentence our courts impose short of death, so the crimes that merit sending a person to prison for the rest of his or her life should be some pretty serious crimes. But let me introduce you to Lee Carroll Brooker, a 76-year-old disabled, decorated army veteran… Read More
This has been a big week for juvenile justice. First, the Supreme Court ruled that adults and children who were sentenced in their youth to mandatory life in prison without parole should be allowed to ask a court to reconsider their sentence. And second, President Obama banned putting incarcerated children in solitary confinement in federal… Read More
In Miller v. Alabama, the U.S. Supreme Court held that life sentences without the possibility of parole (LWOP) for juvenile offenders violated the Eighth Amendment where the sentence fails to consider the defendant’s age and other characteristics related to “youth.” Going forward, it is clear that no juvenile will be subject to an LWOP sentence… Read More
