life without parole Archives

Georgia Parole Board Rejects Constitution

Editorial cartoon: a parole board official with scissors prepares to cut the line "The Board may parole anyone 62 or older" out of a scroll labeled Georgia Constitution, saying "Never heard of it," while an elderly prisoner stands at a barred window. Caption: 32 years. Zero paroles.

In 1994, 81% of Georgia voters gave the parole board constitutional authority to parole anyone 62 or older — an exception written into the same amendment that created life without parole. Thirty-two years later, the Board has no rule, no process, and no record of ever using it once.

Death at a Locked Gate: Georgia Fences Men In, Then Locks the Only Way Out

Corey July had twenty months left on a Floyd County sentence when he was chased across the Hancock State Prison yard and cornered at a locked gate. His killer got life without parole. But Georgia built the gate, locked it, and left no one watching the corridor between.