Taking politics out of parole
Post Reports
The Washington Post
4.4 • 5.1K Ratings
🗓️ 31 January 2022
⏱️ 23 minutes
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Summary
The legacy of “truth in sentencing” politics in Maryland, where the vast majority of people serving life sentences are Black, and how a new law could alter what it means to serve life in prison.
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Politics have shaped the parole process in Maryland for decades. In the heat of a tough-on-crime campaign in the 1990s, the state’s governor said that he would reject parole for anyone serving a life sentence, even when parole commissioners had recommended release. This policy, maintained by his successors from both parties, has left hundreds of prisoners with parole-eligible sentences to grow old and die in prison.
This changed in December when state legislators voted to push the governor out of the parole process. Rebecca Tan reports on the policy’s impact and what this change could mean for similar efforts across the country.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Darryl Taylor is 50 years old and he is serving a life sentence at the Jessup facility in Maryland. |
| 0:08.7 | So far, Darryl has been in prison for 21 years and he has already missed so many milestones. |
| 0:15.3 | I got a brand new granddaughter, but I would love to be there for watching her grow |
| 0:21.3 | up. |
| 0:22.3 | I watched her run days, she had just started walking. |
| 0:23.3 | It was like the most amazing thing to me. |
| 0:26.3 | You know who I've seen many babies walk, it's still my granddaughter, who's beautiful. |
| 0:32.0 | But it's something you're going to be there in me, Father. |
| 0:35.5 | Darryl is serving a life sentence for a murder that he says he didn't commit. |
| 0:40.9 | Back in 2020, Darryl was recommended for parole, but because of an unusual Maryland law, |
| 0:47.7 | he was never released. |
| 0:49.8 | For decades in Maryland, politics has shaped the parole process for people serving life sentences. |
| 0:59.8 | Maryland until recently was one of only three states that allowed the governor to overturn |
| 1:05.7 | parole decisions for lifers. |
| 1:08.9 | And there's been this ongoing debate in the state legislature over whether the governor |
| 1:14.4 | should have that power and who should decide when someone has served enough time. |
| 1:20.6 | Rebecca Tan is a local reporter for the post. |
| 1:23.8 | Along with reporter Ovidah Wiggins, she has been looking into the history of parole in |
| 1:28.0 | Maryland and how it reflects the soul searching that is happening around the country about |
| 1:34.1 | tough on crime policies from the 90s and the future of criminal justice reform. |
| 1:39.8 | Three years in Maryland, a law gave the state's governor the final say on whether prisoners |
| 1:45.0 | serving life sentences could be released. |
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