LIFE
WITHOUT PAROLE:
2020
“IMPARTIAL AND FAIR TREATMENT IN PAROLE” INITIATIVE
CARRIBEAN AND LATIN AMERICA
Jerome Teelucksingh, Ph.D.
Trinidad and Tobago
E-MAIL: j_teeluckingh@yahoo.com
AFRICA
Rosemary Kinuthia
Kenya
E-MAIL: rosemary@africanboychildnetwork.org
NORTH AMERICA
Diane Aisha Sears
United States
E-MAIL: insearchoffatherhood@gmail.com
According to Penal Reform International (www.penalreform.org) located in London in the United Kingdom, 65 nations – including the United States – implement Life Without Parole sentences. On 29 August 2020, Global and Regional Coordinators for the International Men’s Day “Impartial And Fair Treatment in Parole” Initiative will join individuals, organizations, and institutions throughout our global village in reexamining the implementation of Life Without Parole sentences and supporting the creation and enactment of legislation that allows eligible incarcerated souls – the aging and elderly – and model prisoners who have positively enhanced their institutional environment and designed and co-facilitated solutions-based initiatives that address and eradicate recidivism, gun violence, poverty, Fatherlessness, and the “school-to-prison” pipeline. It is an action that is in alignment with (A) United Nations Standard Minimum Rules For Treatment Of Prisoners (The Nelson Mandela Rules For Prisoners https://www.brandsouthafrica.com/people-culture/mandela/mandela-rules--121015?gclid=EAI aIQobChMI752Svobq6gIVRuDICh1AlA5CE AAYASAAEgJytfD_BwE); (B) United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 16: Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions (https://unfoundation.org/what-we-do/issues/sustainable-development-goals/?gclid=EAIaIQobC hMIvayujIvq6gIVQsDICh3tqQZJEAAYAiAAEgJD h_D_ BwE); and (C) recommendations and findings of the Life Imprisonment Worldwide Project published in April 2018 in a joint policy briefing on Life Imprisonment with Penal Reform International (https://www.penal reform .org/resource/life-imprisonment-a-policy-briefing/).
Inaugurated in 2018 by Gender Issues Thought Leader, Founder of International Men’s Day, faculty member in the History Department at the University of West Indies in Trinidad and Tobago, and prolific author Jerome Teelucksingh, Ph.D., the “Impartial and Fair Treatment in Parole” Initiative advocates for and supports individuals, organizations, and institutions working to (A) educate the general public – particularly, family members and loved ones of incarcerated individuals -- about the parole process; (B) “de-politicize” the parole process; and (C) ensure that Parole Boards are not acting as an appellate sentencing court.at parole hearings. Model prisoners should not be arbitrarily denied parole in initial and any subsequent parole hearings who have:
(A) accepted responsibility for the
behavior they engaged in which brought them to prison;
(B) demonstrated a positive adjustment to
institutionalization;
(C) obtained a General Educational
Diploma if they have not graduated from high school and/or obtained a college
education or vocational training while incarcerated;
(D) obtained employment skills, community
ties, and/or a written offer of employment while incarcerated;
(E) received/accepted invitations to
assume leadership roles in academic, mentoring, public policy, or social
entrepreneurial activities and initiatives that enhance the institutional
environment and positively impact communities outside of the institutional
environment while incarcerated;
(F) a track record of designing and/or
co-implementing and/or participating in solutions-based initiatives (e.g.,
atonement programs, domestic violence workshops, mentoring programs, and
programs/forums which specifically help to minimize/eradicate violence,
Fatherlessness, poverty, emotional/spiritual/psychological trauma and toxicity,
recidivism, and crime) while incarcerated; and
(G) low risk assessment scores (COMPAS).
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