Parole Denied: A Federal Judge Says Georgia's Promise to Juvenile Lifers May Be a Lie

Not a single person resentenced under the Montgomery decision has been released from a Georgia prison through parole. A federal judge now says Georgia's promise to juvenile lifers may be a lie. https://gps.press/parole-denied-a-federal-judge-says-georgias-promise-to-...

Georgia has increased its number of juvenile lifers by 100% since 2012 — sentencing more children to life without parole than any other state — while releasing exactly zero of those resentenced under Supreme Court mandate. Nationally, 35% of juvenile lifers identified at the time of the Miller decision have been released. In Michigan, over 180 have gone home. In Georgia: none. Now a federal judge says Georgia's parole process for people who committed crimes as children may violate the Constitution. Is promising parole while making release impossible just another form of death sentence?

Georgia leads the nation in juvenile life sentences: a 100% increase since 2012, with 81% of those sentenced being Black, and zero releases through parole for those resentenced under Supreme Court decisions. A federal judge now says this may constitute a constitutional violation — that Georgia's promise of parole to people who committed crimes as children may be a sham designed to circumvent the Eighth Amendment's prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment. #GeorgiaPrisons #PrisonReform #CriminalJustice #GPS #MassIncarceration #Georgia

A federal judge has ruled that Georgia's parole system for juvenile lifers may violate the Eighth Amendment, finding that the state's promise of parole consideration could be constitutionally deficient. The ruling comes as Georgia has increased juvenile life sentences by 100% since 2012 while releasing zero people resentenced under Supreme Court decisions requiring meaningful parole opportunities. The case will now move to discovery, forcing Georgia's parole board to produce internal records about decision-making processes it has kept secret for years. This represents the most significant legal challenge to whether states can offer parole on paper while making release functionally impossible.