The count in 2016 for life sentenced prisoners in America was almost 160,000. But out of that amount, 50,000 have life without parole. In the 1980s and 90s, President Ronald Reagan, Bush, and Clinton waged wars on drug crimes that took aim at poor African Americans, which made the number of people in prison skyrocket. Political expediency, misguided moral hysteria, and race-based disparities in sentencing have heavily contributed to a lifer’s population that is approximately 47% Black, no greater than parts of the West and Southwest. 58% of these new [unclear] now in prison with no chance of parole are African Americans. America still has the roughly 10,000 life sentence prisoners for nonviolent offenses; 2,500 of them for drug-related crimes, 5,400 for property offenses (The Prison Legal News, 10/2016).
As with the death penalty, life sentences were designed to be used in rare cases. However, in reality, this rare practice has become common practice. Most states have parole for life sentences. However, Pennsylvania is one of the few states that does not have parole for life sentences. All white juries are also a nationwide reason for a large number of Black people with life sentences, and poverty is another. It’s well known that poverty is the engineer; a DA can look great in the courtroom because they have the resources — money talks. Kim Kardashian, with 5 million online; her followers ask President Trump to release a Black woman with a life sentence one week, and the next week she’s free. A billionaire visits Meek Mills in prison one week, and informs him that he will be free the next week, and even before the High Court ruled to free him. This is what money and friendship, and all walks of life can do.
With this in mind, more than $16 billion is spent annually, by states and the federal government, to incarcerate elderly prisoners, which costs around $68,000 a year for prisoners 50 and older, which could skyrocket as high as $400,000 by 2030, with elderly prisoners posing a tremendous threat to state and federal budgets. (June 2012, ACLU report). Therein, a rally in October 2019, in support of parole for life-sentenced prisoners in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, will take place. The exact date is not known at this point in time, however, an advance notice will be extended forthcoming. Meanwhile, donations towards transportation can be addressed to the Human Rights Coalition at 4134 Lancaster Avenue, Philadelphia, PA, 19104. Add “Attention CADDI” on the front of the envelope. You can also inform your family, friends, etc, to visit state Senator Street’s website at http/www.passsb942.com. Thank you very much.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
