JUVENILE LIFERS
The United States stands is the only country that sentences people to life without parole for crimes committed before turning 18. At the beginning of 2020, The Sentencing Project found that there are 1,465 people serving Juvenile Life Without Parole (JLWOP) sentences across the United States.
Twenty-six states and the District of Columbia have banned sentences of life without the possibility of parole for individuals under 18. Nine additional states have no one serving life without parole for offenses committed before age 18.
While we have made great progress, there is still urgent need for continued sentencing reform and review.
THESE ARE THE STORIES OF AMERICA’S JUVENILE LIFERS.
SENTENCED AS KIDS TO DIE IN PRISON—NOW IN THEIR 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s AND 80s:
THEIR STORIES ARE A COMING OF AGE IN THE D.O.C.
ANTONIO WILBURN
“I didn't know what was going on. I was just being told that I was gonna be charged. I was never there at the scene of a crime. But for some particular reason, they tucked this eyewitness, they believed Hearst testimony. I accumulated over 5,000 days for good behavior with the amount of time that I already have did, which is 20, 22 years. Anything that's available, anybody willing to give me a chance. Cause I believe you have to, society have to be forgiven and society have to give opportunities.”
GERALD CHEATHAM
My son is in prison now at Hamilton. He is doing 30 years.
EDWARD KNIGHT
No one visits me anymore. My last visit was in 1996, twenty years ago.
JAMES PARRISH
I learned to read with Louis LaMour westerns in maximum security at Florida State Prison.
JOSEPH LIGON
I came from a poor section of Philly. My father and brother were murdered.
JACK CURRIE
My sister and I raised each other. My mom drank. We were low income. I was neglected.
APRIL HENDERSON
An inmate is careless and doesn’t understand the time. I’ve been in here 23 years.
JOHN ROBERTSON
I never met my mother.
KIMBERLY WILLIAMS
My Daughter saw me in shackles and hated it. She hates me.
ROGER CARTER
A guy doing time is a waste. You survive for what? For nothing. I am sick and tired of being sick and tired.
CHANTAY CLARK
My mother was a violent alcoholic. She used me as a punching bag so I ran away.
CHARLES RAWLS
In grade 6 I used to sneak out at night and go to juke joints. At 15 I began messing around and found a gun.
DONALD SCOTT
They can keep my body locked up, but my soul and my mind are always on the other side.
PAUL
So many of us are up for review. So few us get out.
ALFONSO HILL
I was 6 or 7 when I found out that my Dad was in prison. He was killed when he got out. He was stabbed.
LEONARD BASS
My life fell apart because I didn’t have a support system. I’m going to die here. I am under no illusions.
ROBERT SAUNDERS
It has been 43 years that I have not seen my family. Just give me the death penalty. I am never getting out of prison. I am going to die here. This is slavery.
WESLEY JOHNSON
I’m here for the rest of my life. I have no visitors. Christmas means nothing to me.
DWIGHT BRYANT
I understand that and accept that, but at some point you have to stop spanking that kid, it becomes abuse if you do it too much.
Violence was something normalized growing up and I owe society an apology.
Edward Leon Marciel, Age 44
It was easier to do wring than do right. The more wrong I did, the more my friends accepted and respected me. They were the wrong friends. They were criminals.
Lee Daniels, Age 55
LESTER SIMMONS
At 15 I was put in an adult facility, I was raped and sodomized.
DAVID KUNS
At 17 I lived with my mother and her common law husband. He molested both his stepdaughter and his own daughter.
JERRY SIMON
At 15 they placed me in confinement. I was there for months, 24 hours a day.
CHARLES KEECH
I understand people don’t want to release me, I can’t change what I did. I would like to get out, but it depends on the grace of others.
VINCENT GODFREY
I have never known a successful family, never had a job or earned a paycheck. I only knew the streets and a series of juvenile halls, camps and group homes.
TERRENCE GRAHAM
I grew up with two crack addicted parents. At home there was only Doritos and spoiled milk or government cheese in the refrigerator.
BERNARD FLOWERS
My mother was 13 when she had her first kid. When I came here I couldn’t read or write.
GARY REID
If I could start over I would, but I can’t. I deserve another chance.
MARCOS MENDEZ
My dad passed away when I was 5. I was 16 when I was convicted.
LUIS GUERRERO
I didn’t understand the concept of family. It was always poverty, and yet somehow I felt loved.
GREG OATES
I was 18 years old when I was arrested for a crime of murder I committed when I was 17. I’ve now served over 40 years straight.
C.S.
I grew up differently than you. I grew up in a world of violence.
DERRICK GRIFFIN
I ain’t giving up hope though, by a long shot. I’m not giving up at all. I’ve been fighting all these years and I’m not going to stop.
CHARLES COPLEY
At 16 I went to prison, an adult prison, and I felt as though why couldn’t I get probation? Why couldn’t I go to a juvenile home or something? Why I had to go to prison?
D.D.
When I came in I was 15. I was sentenced to 90 years to life.
JAMES STIDHAM
Here I am, 35 years later, 50 years old, for something that I did as a child.
ROBERT MARTIN
I’m the only one missing. I’m the only one trying to obtain privilege of a family.
IRVIN LANDRY
The cause of it all was my brother was shot and I went seeking revenge.