Just A New Death Penalty: The Other Side Of The LWOP

In 2011, four North Carolina prisoners serving parole-eligible life sentences for murder were nearing the minimum time needed to earn release. Three of the four were engaged in work release programs that allowed them to leave the prison to work within the community. One woman was a stylist at a hair salon, well-liked and thought of as a valuable employee. They were beneficiaries of a time when the state was still invested in rehabilitating inmates. Up until 1994, the Fair Sentencing Act equated life sentences to 80 years. Participation in programs, counseling, education, and work reduced the sentence by half. At that point, for all intents and purposes, prisoners were considered "rehabilitated."



The 1994 North Carolina Structured Sentencing Guidelines eliminated parole-eligible life sentences, parole, good time and gain time, removing all incentives for rehabilitation and replacing them with mandatory sentences and life without parole.



But the law was not retroactive, and lifers sentenced under the Fair Sentencing Act could still pursue parole through the North Carolina Pre-release and Parole Commission. Or so they thought.



When then-Governor Beverly Perdue discovered four convicted killers would soon be paroled after completing the standard minimum of 40 years, she did the politically expedient thing and blocked the prisoners' release. Ignoring the law and evidence of rehabilitation, the governor declared, "Life should mean life." If you care about the Constitution's prohibition against cruel and unusual punishment, this book should be for you. If you value writing straight from the heart, stories that hit hard, literature that leaves you breathless and thinking, this book was written for you.