The Second Chances Resource Library contains resources related to expanding release opportunities
for people in prison who are serving long sentences or have other circumstances warranting release
When Shane was just 16 years old, a judge sentenced him to 30 years to life in prison. Like most people, Shane grew and changed as he became an adult. After 40 years in prison, Shane was given a second chance at life by the parole board. It’s time for New Mexico to pass legislation that abolishes juvenile life without parole and that allows people sentenced as children to petition for early release.
Shannon’s brother was sentenced to 30 years to life when he was just 16 years old for his involvement in the killing of their grandparents. For many years, Shannon refused to speak to her brother or his former friends, but now she is an advocate for second chances. Shannon wants to see legislation passed in New Mexico to give people sentenced as children who have grown and changed a chance to petition for early release.
Former prosecutor Preston Shipp, now at the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth, speaks in support of New Mexico’s Second Chance Bill. He explains how his personal experience teaching in a prison led him to recognize the need for second chances for people sentenced to life without parole for crimes committed as children, and discusses evidence from other states showing that legislation like the Second Chance Bill works.
In this interview, ACLU of New Mexico’s Staff Attorney Denali Wilson talks about the need for New Mexico Senate Bill 43, the Second Chance Bill, which would create consistency and predictability for victims and communities across the state by standardizing youth sentences in accordance with the requirements of the Constitution. The bill would ban juvenile life without parole and create early parole for those serving long adult sentences for crimes committed as children.
In this week’s episode, we’re talking to Algernon D’Ammassa, who generally covers statewide issues for the Las Cruces Sun-News. He recently spoke with Darcy Morrison, an inmate at the Western New Mexico Correctional Facility in Grants. It’s a life she describes as “a quiet one.”For much of the day, she works in the prison’s library, where she tutors other inmates. She told Algernon she completed her bachelor’s degree last year, and that she finds joy in teaching other inmates. After the daily 4 p.m. head count, she typically reads or watches “Jeopardy!” In her unit, inmates room together in pods of four. She said her companions are quiet and all get along well.The New Mexico Corrections Department still lists her under her former married name, Darcy Smith. As a teenager, she was briefly wedded to Eric Smith, whom she described as violent and controlling in a relationship marked by substance abuse as well as physical and psychological violence. What led to Morrison’s arrest — and ultimately being sentenced to life in prison — dates back to a night in November 1992. It’s complicated, and at the end of the night, 17-year-old Adam Price was dead. This week, we’re talking to Darcy, who was kind enough to join us to discuss her ongoing fight to have her sentence reconsidered. We’re also joined by attorneys Denali Wilson and Lalita Moskowitz from the American Civil Liberties Union — the ACLU — who are representing Darcy going forward.
In response to the global pandemic in 2020, states and the federal government began to
make non-routine releases from prison in order to reduce prison populations to allow for
social distancing in prison facilities. This report is aimed at describing where such prison
releases occurred, the legal mechanisms used to achieve these releases, and the factors within
jurisdictions that made non-routine prison releases more or less likely to occur. We write this
report, not to examine the national response to the pandemic, but to better understand when
and how extraordinary measures may be used to effect prison release, and to determine
whether there are lessons from this experience that can be applied to reducing the effects of
mass incarceration.
“There’s no question: Our legal system loves long prison sentences. From 2000 to 2019, the number of people serving sentences of 10 years or longer exploded from 587,000 to 773,000, according to a new report from The Sentencing Project. Those 773,000 people account for more than half of the U.S. prison population.
Extreme sentences have become so commonplace in the U.S. that 10 years can seem like a relatively minor punishment, perhaps woefully inadequate for serious offenses. But 10 years is an enormously long period of time – one in which people can experience profound growth, especially in their younger years.
That’s why we believe incarcerated people should have the opportunity to have their sentence re-evaluated after 10 years. In fact, the American Bar Association just passed a resolution recommending precisely that….”
The Sentencing Project’s extensive analysis of the hundreds of thousands of Americans serving 10 or more years behind bars. The report finds that in 2019, over half of the people in U.S. prisons – amounting to more than 770,000 people – were serving sentences of 10 years or longer. That’s a huge jump from 2000, when 587,000 people were serving such sentences.
Other key findings of the report include:
An abundance of criminological evidence shows that criminal careers typically end within about 10 years, after which recidivism rates fall measurably.
Drawing on this research, the report makes a case for pragmatic and humane reforms, including giving incarcerated people the chance to have their sentence re-evaluated within 10 years. Importantly, this does not mean every person would be resentenced; it simply means people would have the opportunity to make their case before a court. In line with this reasoning, the American Bar Association – the largest voluntary association of lawyers in the world – has passed a resolution recommending that people receive precisely such resentencing opportunities.
Extreme sentences are so common in America that 10 years behind bars can seem like a relatively short imprisonment. But it’s an incredibly long period of time – one in which people can experience profound change. After a decade of imprisonment, many incarcerated people mature, take accountability for their actions, and acquire skills to support their successful re-entry. Unfortunately, people with excessive sentences are rarely given an opportunity to show how they have changed and have their sentences re-evaluated. That’s a major flaw in our legal system.
Here’s how and why on how I have become an advocate for my ex-husband, incarcerated in federal prison. Yes, you read that right: ex-husband. We are still close, and I can’t sit by and watch injustice. The more I ponder on it, the more I think how can I not advocate for a man who is terminally ill and has been sent to prison?!
[UPDATE: Gary Kyles was granted a pardon from Gov. Wolf in July 2022. He is now free.] Gary Kyles has spent his entire adult life incarcerated. Arrested at 18, sentenced to life without the possibility of parole at 20. He is now 60, and has shown himself to be a very different person than he was 42 years ago, worthy of a second chance.