Bill would end ‘life without parole’
Reform legislation eliminates sentence
As part of a slate of legislation targeting criminal justice reform, state lawmakers are pushing to end the practice of sentencing people to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
The legislation, introduced by Senator Liz Miranda and Representative Christopher Worrell, would not automatically guarantee release from prison, but rather give every person sentenced to life in prison an opportunity to go before a parole board after serving 25 years.
“I do not believe justice is a system that has over-policed and over sentenced thousands of young Black boys, men, and women from communities of color,” Miranda said this week during a State House hearing.
Massachusetts has the highest percentage of prisoners serving life without parole in the country, tied with Louisiana, according to a 2020 report from the Sentencing Project. This population makes up 14 percent of all people incarcerated in state prisons, in part because state law requires every person convicted of first-degree murder be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. More than half of those serving life without parole are over 55, the report said. Massachusetts also has among the highest rates of women serving life in the country.
National advocates recommend parole for most incarcerated people after 20 years in prison, with a progress review of defendants’ rehabilitation as early as 10 years post-sentencing.
Miranda and Worrell’s bill also provides for voluntary restorative justice training for offenders, victims, and their families who may be interested in reconciliation.
In addition to testimony from lawmakers and advocates, dozens of current and formerly incarcerated people also gave legislators a more personal look at the bill’s impact on the state’s criminal justice system.
“Life without parole is a hidden death sentence,” said Patricia Olsen, 59, who testified virtually from a women’s
state prison in Framingham. Olsen, who has served nearly two decades in prison, said she is one of 25 women incarcerated at Framingham for first-degree murder. Of the group, 10 are over 55 years old, and six of them have serious health conditions, she said.
Olsen argued that the benefit is not just in the possibility of rehabilitation, but also a reduction in taxpayer dollars spent on a litany of medical bills. She estimated it costs roughly $2.4 million a year to care for the prison’s population of 55-plus women serving life without parole.
“Please give lifers a chance to prove that we are worth being allowed to go home,” she said.
Raymond Colon, who testified virtually from the state’s Norfolk prison, stressed that in addition to investing resources into education and rehabilitation for prisoners, Massachusetts should give every incarcerated person the opportunity to demonstrate their progress.
“People change, and that change should be measured against public safety through a parole hearing,” he said.
In Massachusetts, all firstdegree murder convictions are automatically reviewed by the state’s highest court, which looks for legal and procedural errors in their assessment. However, several incarcerated men told legislators there is no automatic review that takes into consideration a defendant’s potential for growth and change, particularly as the state looks to move from a punitive adult justice system to a rehabilitative one.
Life without parole “does not adequately serve the needs of justice,” said Ronald Leftwich, who was sentenced to murder over 26 years ago.
“Society was right to incapacitate me ... [so I would] never again disrupt my community nearly beyond repair. But twenty six and a half years later, I am not that man anymore,” he said. “I am now asking the legislature for the opportunity to give back to my community and repair the harm I have caused.”
In addition to advocating for an end to life without parole, incarcerated men and women also turned out in force to testify in favor of a handful of other criminal justice bills, including the elimination of mandatory minimum sentences for certain cases, an end to life sentences for people convicted of murder under the joint venture legal theory, and a proposal for a five-year ban on the construction of new jails and prisons.
In her testimony, Senator Miranda also acknowledged the concerns that families and victims of violent crime might have about their assailants being released. She shared memories of her little brother, who was murdered outside of a Boston nightclub in 2017, and told legislators that, even at the sentencing of his killer, she did not ask the judge for life without parole.
“When we outlawed the death penalty in Massachusetts, life in prison without any possibility of a parole review should not have taken its place,” she said. “No one here advocates the release of serial killers and other worst-of-the-worst offenders, but... we cannot throw away our young people, and I believe that young people can change.”