A Living Death
Sentenced to Die Behind Bars for What?
Overview
For 3,278 people, it was nonviolent offenses like stealing a $159 jacket or serving as a middleman in the sale of $10 of marijuana. An estimated 65% of them are Black. Many of them were struggling with mental illness, drug dependency or financial desperation when they committed their crimes. None of them will ever come home to their parents and children. And taxpayers are spending billions to keep them behind bars.
A Living Death: Life without Parole for Nonviolent Offenses
For 3,278 people, it was nonviolent offenses like stealing a $159 jacket or serving as a middleman in the sale of $10 of marijuana. An estimated...
Source: American Civil Liberties Union
Sentenced to die behind bars for what?
Non-violent Offenders Languishing in Prison
A Living Death
Can you imagine a mother without her oldest son? A father who will never make it home for his kids’ birthdays?
It’s not too late to give these families hope.
Watch this video and help us fight extreme sentences for nonviolent crimes – sentences that have reached absurd, tragic and costly heights.
Send People Like Patrick Home
Catherine Matthews cries when she thinks about telling her son what she ate for Thanksgiving dinner, knowing that he will never be at their table again to eat with her. Patrick, her son, is 25. He’s already been in prison for three years and he’ll be there until he dies – all for stealing a few tools and a welding machine.
Send People Like Quierza Home
Deloice Lewis has extraordinarily difficult holidays. Her son, Quierza Lewis, was sentenced to die behind bars for possession of crack cocaine when he was 25. Because of a three strikes law, he'll never come home.
DeLoice said that she has been so devastated by her son's sentence that it has drive her to contemplate suicide. She said, "At one time, I say, I wish I could just drive into a river. And it would take it away, the hurt that I was having. The hurt that it was doing to me. I just wanted to drown at one time...I was really ready to commit suicide. that's the only thing I could think of, 'cause I couldn't help my child."
