When Forever Is Far Too Long
By DANIEL BERGNER
[]ilbert Rideau's résumé reads like this: named "Person of the Week" by ABC News; called "the most rehabilitated prisoner in America" by Life magazine; co-directed documentary film nominated for an Academy Award; given the George Polk Award, one of the highest honors in journalism. Mr. Rideau is 61. Guilty of a brutal killing committed in the aftermath of a hapless bank robbery, he has served 42 years for that crime. Unless a current legal fight — a revealing and truth-distorting struggle — turns his way, he will stay locked up until he dies.
Mr. Rideau's story is both unique and symbolic. Across the country, at least 31,000 state and federal inmates are serving terms of natural life. That means they have been put away forever, without opportunity for parole. Except in the most unusual circumstances, we need never think of them again. And though national support for capital punishment may be softening, this does not mean that fewer people will be sentenced to die in prison. A decade ago, according to the Criminal Justice Institute, the number of natural lifers was about 12,000. Then, 31 states had adopted the sentence; now, 46 have chosen the safety of permanence and the luxury of not thinking.
Sentenced to life in prison when death sentence was commuted. Should this prisoner and others like him now be considered for parole?
http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/17/opinion/17BERG.html?th
