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Hope: Nearly 40 Years Into an LWOP Sentence, I Refuse to Give Up
By Ahmad Thomas
September 17, 2026
“Laws change all the time, promise me you will stay healthy, faithful, and never give up.” I will never forget hearing these words from my dear mother, Sandra Lee Thomas, may she rest in peace.
Read the full story from The Davis Vanguard here!
Pennsylvania Prisoners Seek Retroactive Relief from Illegal Life-Without-Parole Sentences
By Vanguard Administrator
September 12, 2026
HARRISBURG, Pa. — Four people who have spent decades serving mandatory life-without-parole sentences for second-degree murder are asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to intervene after the state’s highest court declared the sentencing scheme unconstitutional but left more than 1,100 people already serving those sentences without a clear path to relief.
Read the full story from The Davis Vanguard here!
Pennsylvania Struck Down Mandatory Life Without Parole for 2nd-Degree Murder. What Comes Next?
By Aala Abdullahi
July 31, 2026
People affected by the state’s felony murder law reflect on the ruling and the uncertain path ahead.
Read the full story from The Marshall Project here!
He was sentenced to life imprisonment at 17. Now, he shares his story to help other youths
LSU Manship School News Service
July 22, 2026
Since his release in 2018, Louis Gibson worked as a reentry specialist with the Parole Project and now serves a youth advocate in New Orleans, committed to helping those within the system turn their lives around and prepare for life on the outside.
Read the full story from LSU Manship School News Service here!
San Diego, the racial divide in charges that can lead to life without parole has grown
By David M. Greenwald
June 3, 2026
FRESNO, Calif. — After nearly 50 years of being incarcerated, last week a Fresno County Superior Court judge granted Douglas Stankewitz’s request for discovery under the California Racial Justice Act, ruling that the longtime death penalty case has met the statute’s relatively low threshold for obtaining evidence that could support claims of racial bias.
Read the full story from Davis Vanguard here!
Douglas Stankewitz Case Returns to Court as California Racial Justice Law Tests a 1978 Fresno Murder Prosecution
April 14, 2026
By David Greenwald
FRESNO, CA. — Nearly five decades after Douglas Stankewitz was first charged in a Fresno County murder case that once carried a death sentence, the long-running litigation has entered a new phase centered on race, historical bias and access to prosecutorial records under California’s Racial Justice Act.
Read the full press release from The Davis Vanguard here.
In San Diego, the racial divide in charges that can lead to life without parole has grown
February 3, 2026
By Katie Hyson / Racial Justice and Social Equity Reporter
Contributors: Charlotte Radulovich / Video Journalist
Black murder defendants are more likely than white murder defendants to be charged with special circumstances that can lead to life without parole sentences. When the current district attorney took office, that gap grew.
Read the full story from KPBR here!
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Ends Mandatory Life Without Parole For Those Who Did Not Intentionally Kill
March 26, 2026
Today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court barred mandatory life without parole (LWOP) sentences for people convicted of felony murder.
Read the full press release from The Sentencing Project here.
California Spends $300 Million Each Year Incarcerating Senior Citizens in Women’s Prisons
March 17, 2026
By Victoria Law
California’s incarcerated population has aged rapidly over the past 30 years. A new report recommends creating new pathways for senior citizens to seek release.
Read the full story from The Appeal here!
Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2026
March 11, 2026
By Wendy Sawyer, Brian Nam-Sonenstein and Peter Wagner Tweet this
Press release
Printable PDF version
Can it really be true that most people in jail are legally innocent? How much of mass incarceration is a result of the war on drugs, or the profit motives of private prisons?
The full report is available from Prison Policy Initiative here.
