Change Leads to Parole--For Some
Michigan prisons hold about 200 inmates sentenced under the state’s lifer law for drug offenses.
In 1998, state legislators amended the law to allow for parole after 20 years, or even 15 years if the inmate meets certain criteria, including cooperating with police and having no other serious convictions.
JeDonna Young was the first inmate paroled since the change. About a half-dozen inmates sentenced under the law are eligible for parole this year, said Matt Davis, a state prison spokesman.
Of those held under the lifer law, 46% are first-time offenders and 86% had no prior prison record, says Laura Sager, director of the Michigan project of Families Against Mandatory Minimums, which lobbied to change the law.
Supporters of a lifer law believe it is justified because of the ripple effects of drug dealing and associated violence.
But Sager believes the changes signal a growing realization that the law’s harshness was out of proportion.
“Judges should have the ability to determine individual sentences,” distinguishing between a first-time offender and a drug kingpin, she says.
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