Pardon Me

This past week the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported on the number of felons who have had their civil rights restored by Governor McDonnell.  This Governor, it appears, is on pace to exceed rights restoration for felons by his predecessors.  The Governor should be applauded for his efforts.  But, 300,000 Virginians still wear the scarlet letter “F” for felon and are denied their basic right to vote.

This isn’t about civil rights, perhaps it should be.  Suffice it to say, this Nation was founded on a principle that rights derive from God, not man. While society has an absolute right to legislate certain behavior and enforce a code with criminal penalties, Virginia is in the minority of states who do not automatically restore a felon’s civil rights at the conclusion of his (or her) sentence.   That Virginia stands out with such a hostile position on rights restoration is ironic given the Commonwealth’s history as the focal point of this Nation’s democracy and the home to revered figures such as Jefferson and Madison.

But that isn’t the point of this piece.  This is about the lack of political will by Governors to use their power to pardon.  Exercising that power is not without risk.  Former Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour pardoned 200 present and former inmates on his last day in office and was publicly skewered, mostly by CNN talking head Anderson Cooper.  As an aside, I wonder if Cooper’s continuing interest in Barbour’s pardons is the result of Barbour being a Republican (Anderson said nothing when New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo (Democrat) released thousands to reduce his state’s huge budget deficit).

Barbour acted, as he said, out of a deep sense of “Christian faith” that everyone deserves a second chance.  That sentiment is shared by men such as former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee (R) who coincidentally is also an ordained Baptist Minister.

And the exercise of that power has historically been routinely used by Governors to manage prison populations, correct miscarriages of justice and to make far-reaching statements about our criminal justice system.  Somehow though, as the call for more religion in our society has grown, we have become a Nation using the criminal justice system solely for retribution.  The demand for longer, harsher sentencing, and the public’s indifference to the horrendous conditions in our Nation’s prisons, are completely devoid of the fundamental premises of Christianity which so many politicians and pundits espouse.

No less an authority than United States Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy along with the American Bar Association wisely recommended in 2004 that both the President and Governors “revitalize the clemency process”.  This plea has, it appears, fallen on deaf ears.

Virginia currently has as its Governor, Robert McDonnell, a graduate of Pat Robertson’s Regents University Law School, a school dedicated to the practice of law in keeping with the tenets of Christian faith.  McDonnell, during his election run, routinely spoke about his faith as he courted Evangelical voters.  Throughout his first two years in office he has spoken eloquently about his faith. 

And yet, McDonnell has done virtually nothing to alleviate overcrowding in Virginia’s prisons.  He has done virtually nothing to institute meaningful sentence and prison reform.  Last year he released two terminally ill inmates on conditional release so they could die at home with their families, just two.  Meanwhile, the number of inmates over the age of 50 has grown dramatically.

McDonnell’s parole board releases less than three percent of the inmates who appear before them, an abysmal number.  Inmates are all treated the same regardless of the efforts they show to be remorseful and rehabilitated.

I wonder how differently the growth of Christianity would have been if Jesus, when confronted by the lawyers holding the adulterous woman had said, “Give me the rock.  She broke the law.  She deserves to die.  No mercy.”

But, thankfully for all of us, that isn’t what He said, or did.  He set a high bar – for all of us.  We are called to show mercy.

Governors have that power.  It’s high time they use it.  Prison is supposed to create an atmosphere of rehabilitation and remorse, not a breeding ground for revenge and retribution.  Governor McDonnell can be a leader in the effort to bring real faith into the system.  Pardon me, Governor.  Isn’t that what our faith is all about?

All Those Years

Today is my friend DC’s 58^th birthday.  He has “celebrated” thirty-nine birthdays in here.  Thirty-nine.  I had to write that again.  He was locked up before the boxing tryout for the 1972 Olympics in Munich.  In 1972, while the Israeli athletes were being killed by members of the Palestinian Group “Black September” (or the German special forces troops sent to rescue them), I was moving with my family from Pennsylvania to New York.  I was thirteen and ready to start eighth grade.  Thirty-nine years.  Every day in here I struggle with memories of my life outside of here.  DC has had to do that for thirty-nine years.

My friend Ty has been incarcerated for 36 years.  He turned 65 earlier this year and applied for geriatric parole.  An inmate, over the age of 64 may apply for early release; there are some criteria.  Ty was turned down.  Ironically, geriatric parole has never been granted.  Makes you wonder why they have it on the books.

Saleem has a life sentence.  He’s been in 31 years.  Every year since his twentieth in here he comes up for parole.  Every year he gets turned down.  Saleem’s “update sheet” – that’s the form DOC generates annually after an inmates review which provides stats on the person – shows his release date as “deceased”.  Thirty-one years he’s looked at a sheet that says “you’ll get out when you’re dead”.  Saleem is a devout Muslim and leader of the Sunni brothers on the compound.  He’s earned his BA and Masters Degrees while locked up.  He is a man of patience and peace.  Thirty-one years will do that to you.

A younger friend – Mike – turned 34 in April.  In June he finished nineteen years in prison.  At the age of 15, in a fit of unbridled, uncontrolled rage, he stabbed a man to death.  Mike comes from a “good family” – his mom’s a schoolteacher.  His father (who divorced his mom and left his life after the conviction) is an engineer.  Mike stayed in juvenile custody until he turned 17, then went to a level “5” max security prison.  He has seven more years and then he “mandatories”; they have to let him go.  Mike and I do yoga together, exchange books, discuss TV, politics, religion.  He’s one of the brightest and most decent people I’ve ever met.

I bounce off the walls at times in here as I think about all I’m missing.  My mind runs a continual reel of “Larry’s Greatest Hits” and I remember dinners with my ex, family hikes, my sons’ birthday parties and ballgames.  I am awash in memories.  My ability to recall minute details – what she wore, her perfume, what the kids ordered to eat – can be maddening.

How do they do it?  How do they watch years slip by and calmly move forward?  There’s no set answer; no right way.  You do what you have to do to survive.

Saleem is fatalistic.  As a Muslim he sees everything from God.  “When God is willing, I will be delivered.”  That’s easy to say; it’s a lot tougher to live.  During my “desperate days” this past winter it was Saleem who asked me to sit in his cut one day and vent against the “injustice” present in my life.  After I’d worked myself into a frenzy, he calmly asked “Do you believe in God?”  My reaction was one of puzzlement.  “You know I do Saleem.  I’m praying and in the book every day.”  He smiled and said, “Then shouldn’t you trust him?”  Smart man.

Mike, he doesn’t keep track of days.  He has no calendar.  He hates his annual parole hearing because it reminds him of time, dates certain.  He knows there’s a day coming and he’ll go home.

Former Republican Presidential candidate and ordained Baptist minister Mike Huckabee is a supporter of prison reform and opposes mandatory sentencing.  In a recent interview, he said the following:

“Tell a person ‘you’re going to prison.  If in the next 10 years you get an education, learn a skill and behave, you’ll serve exactly 10 years.  If you act up …you’ll serve 10 years…we’re not fixing them.  We’re not changing our society.”

Nineteen years; thirty-one years; thirty-six years; thirty-nine years; three years – when is it enough time?  When has the penalty been justly meted out?  When does the punishment fit the crime?

Thirty- nine years.  Think about it.