The Real Cost of Prisons Weblog

Clemency for lifers has been virtually non-existent in Pennsylvania ever since the statewide referendum of 1997, when the law was changed to require a unanimous, rather than a majority, vote of the five-member Pardons Board before a commutation request could even be considered by the governor. This change put the power to deny clemency in the hands of any one board member, and with two politically sensitive, elected officials ? the attorney general and the lieutenant governor ? as members, the odds are stacked against any lifer's appeal making it to the governor. The current lieutenant governor, Catherine Baker Knoll, has been an exception in her willingness to support meritorious appeals.

Michael H. Anderson was one of only three prisoners to beat those odds. Ricki Pinkins was the first and his sentence was commuted to life on parole by outgoing interim Gov. Mark Schweiker in 2003. The third is George G. Orlowski who is still awaiting action.

The paucity of clemency is especially draconian because hundreds of men and women were sentenced to life without parole as juveniles; unwitting accomplices present during a homicide; and persons suffering from Battered Women Syndrome, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or a variety of mental and emotional impairments. In short, people who might deserve some form of sanctioning but who in most other states would be eligible for parole at some point.

Anderson, 54, has been in prison since he was 18 in 1971. He was convicted of first-degree murder in the slaying of a SEPTA bus rider who Anderson and a group of his friends were attempting to rob. In the midst of a scuffle, Anderson was knocked to the ground and one of his friends, Raynard Gregory, took a knife from Anderson's pocket and stabbed the rider twice.

Gregory was tried after Anderson and received a sentence of seven to 20 years. He was paroled after serving seven years but convicted again later for a series of new violent crimes. Gregory currently is serving a 60-120 year sentence.

This kind of ironic twist ? in which the killer gets a lighter sentence than an accomplice ? is not uncommon. When taken together with the increasing number of wrongful convictions being brought to light by virtue of DNA evidence, it should be clear that our criminal justice system is seriously flawed. Some safety valve, such as the commutation process, needs to be functional.

Anderson operates a sewing machine, making underwear for Correctional Industries at SCI Graterford. He also serves as treasurer for the prison branch chapter of the NAACP. ''He's quiet and well-liked,'' Superintendent Dave DiGuglielmo said. ''And, he has a good work ethic or he wouldn't have been able to keep his job at Correctional Industries.''

Anderson, who applied unsuccessfully for commutation four other times, was married in the prison visiting room in 2002. He will have to spend a year in a community corrections center before being let out on parole. Ultimately, Anderson said, he would like to move to Virginia to live with his wife.

News of the commutation spread rapidly through the dank corridors of the maximum-security prison. Lifers, emotionally starved for any hope of ever being released, greeted Anderson's good fortune as a sign that the clemency drought might be ending.

The concept of clemency was not developed to reward prisoners or make their lives easier. Nor was it designed to advance the careers of politicians. It is an act of mercy, and it should be used to enhance our humanity.

William M. DiMascio is executive director of the Pennsylvania Prison Society, with offices in Philadelphia.
Copyright © 2007, The Morning Call
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