Kiriakou writes: "Phillip Chance died at the age of 59 in November last
year. You've never heard of Phillip Chance. Almost nobody has. But he ought
to be an important figure - a symbol - of what is wrong with our justice
system and with our country's policy of mass incarceration, especially of
minorities."
Phillip Louis Chance was convicted at the age of 15 and placed in an adult
jail for his role in a robbery and murder by his cousin. Chance said he was
bullied into making a confession and didn't know his cousin was going to rob
and kill the store owner. Last week, Mr. Chance died in prison. He was 59.
(photo: The Marshall Project)
Phillip Chance Never Killed Anyone, but Jeff Sessions Did
By John Kiriakou, Reader Supported News
03 March 17
Phillip Chance died at the age of 59 in November last year. You've never
heard of Phillip Chance. Almost nobody has. But he ought to be an important
figure - a symbol - of what is wrong with our justice system and with our
country's policy of mass incarceration, especially of minorities.
In 1971, a then-15-year-old Chance and his older brother left Detroit with
family to visit a cousin in Choctaw, Alabama. During that visit, the three
went to a convenience store, which the cousin proceeded to rob. The cousin
then killed the clerk. Chance cooperated fully with the police and told them
where his cousin had hidden the stolen money. Prosecutors, though, charged
all three of the teens, who were black, with murdering the white clerk.
Chance's defense attorney told him to plead guilty, saying that because he
had cooperated with the cops that he would likely be sentenced to a year in
the local jail. The judge, though, gave him life without parole. This was a
15-year-old who had not killed anybody.
Chance was sent to an adult prison, where he was so well-behaved that he was
able to work his way down from maximum security to a minimum-security
work-release program in only 10 years. But in 1981, despite never having had
a single disciplinary infraction, he was denied parole. The parole board
said specifically that he posed a "threat to the community." Frustrated, a
few days later, Chance walked away from the work-release program and made
his way back to his family in Detroit.
The State of Alabama pressed relentlessly for Chance's return. But the
(Republican) governor of Michigan granted Chance asylum, and he and
subsequent governors refused Alabama's repeated extradition requests.
Several of the governors said that Chance had been railroaded and argued
that he was a victim of racial discrimination and injustice.
But the State of Alabama would not relent. Then-State Attorney General
Jefferson Beauregard (Jeff) Sessions filed a federal lawsuit against the
State of Michigan demanding that Chance be extradited to serve the rest of
his life term. Finally, in 1996, the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
ordered the extradition. Chance was arrested and transported to Birmingham.
One federal appellate judge noted in dissent, "Mr. Chance will be returned
to a jurisdiction and prison system with a wretched history and, even more
distressing, a present demeanor violative of international standards on the
treatment of all prisoners." The judge was referring to Alabama's decision
to bring back the chain gang, as well as the practice of shackling prisoners
for as long as seven hours to chest-high horizontal bars called "hitching
posts." The judge continued that, "If South Africa can sign a new democratic
constitution and Pakistan can take steps toward a ban on flogging, surely
the State of Alabama, in the United States of America, can learn from its
lamentable past and embrace modest principles of human rights." But it
wasn't to be.
In 1999, three years after being returned to Alabama, Chance appeared before
the parole board. Alabama Parole Board chairwoman Gladys Riddle and board
member Johnny Johnson noted that Chance had been 15 years old at the time of
his crime, that he was not the killer, and that he had led an exemplary life
in Michigan. The board voted to grant him parole.
Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor condemned the recommendation, and
Governor Don Siegelman, a Democrat who would later be sentenced to seven
years in a federal prison on what many believe to be trumped up political
charges, called on the board to immediately reverse its decision. Siegelman
asked rhetorically why the board would release a "convicted killer" after
the state had spent more than $200,000 only three years earlier to have him
extradited from Michigan. The board rescinded its decision and Chance
remained in prison.
Chance came up for parole many times over the next two decades. He told the
board each time about how he had maintained an exemplary disciplinary
record, how he had earned a GED and a college degree in theology while
incarcerated, and about how he had developed life-threatening health
problems in prison. Indeed, during those years he developed kidney and heart
disease, had two heart attacks, underwent quadruple bypass surgery,
developed diabetes, and had a stroke. His application for compassionate
release was denied. He finally died in November, chained to a hospital bed.
Phillip Chance is just one man. His is just one case. But it is an example
of everything that is wrong with the American judicial system. It's not a
system that seeks or pursues justice. It's a system that seeks punishment.
There is no rehabilitation. There is no compassion. There's just punishment.
And even then, we're backsliding.
Jeff Sessions is now Attorney General of the United States. It is he who
sets policy on prosecutions, on prison reform, and on sentencing reform.
Advocates of these reforms and of easing mandatory minimum sentencing made
huge strides under the Obama administration. And that wasn't easy. Obama
eventually came around, but for years he was no friend of reformers. Now
there's almost nothing to look forward to. What we can expect, though, at
least for the next four years, is to hear more stories like that of Phillip
Chance.
________________________________________
John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former senior
investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the
sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage
Act - a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a
result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration's torture program.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
Supported News.
Error! Hyperlink reference not valid. Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.
Phillip Louis Chance was convicted at the age of 15 and placed in an adult
jail for his role in a robbery and murder by his cousin. Chance said he was
bullied into making a confession and didn't know his cousin was going to rob
and kill the store owner. Last week, Mr. Chance died in prison. He was 59.
(photo: The Marshall Project)
http://readersupportednews.org/http://readersupportednews.org/
Phillip Chance Never Killed Anyone, but Jeff Sessions Did
By John Kiriakou, Reader Supported News
03 March 17
hillip Chance died at the age of 59 in November last year. You've never
heard of Phillip Chance. Almost nobody has. But he ought to be an important
figure - a symbol - of what is wrong with our justice system and with our
country's policy of mass incarceration, especially of minorities.
In 1971, a then-15-year-old Chance and his older brother left Detroit with
family to visit a cousin in Choctaw, Alabama. During that visit, the three
went to a convenience store, which the cousin proceeded to rob. The cousin
then killed the clerk. Chance cooperated fully with the police and told them
where his cousin had hidden the stolen money. Prosecutors, though, charged
all three of the teens, who were black, with murdering the white clerk.
Chance's defense attorney told him to plead guilty, saying that because he
had cooperated with the cops that he would likely be sentenced to a year in
the local jail. The judge, though, gave him life without parole. This was a
15-year-old who had not killed anybody.
Chance was sent to an adult prison, where he was so well-behaved that he was
able to work his way down from maximum security to a minimum-security
work-release program in only 10 years. But in 1981, despite never having had
a single disciplinary infraction, he was denied parole. The parole board
said specifically that he posed a "threat to the community." Frustrated, a
few days later, Chance walked away from the work-release program and made
his way back to his family in Detroit.
The State of Alabama pressed relentlessly for Chance's return. But the
(Republican) governor of Michigan granted Chance asylum, and he and
subsequent governors refused Alabama's repeated extradition requests.
Several of the governors said that Chance had been railroaded and argued
that he was a victim of racial discrimination and injustice.
But the State of Alabama would not relent. Then-State Attorney General
Jefferson Beauregard (Jeff) Sessions filed a federal lawsuit against the
State of Michigan demanding that Chance be extradited to serve the rest of
his life term. Finally, in 1996, the federal Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals
ordered the extradition. Chance was arrested and transported to Birmingham.
One federal appellate judge noted in dissent, "Mr. Chance will be returned
to a jurisdiction and prison system with a wretched history and, even more
distressing, a present demeanor violative of international standards on the
treatment of all prisoners." The judge was referring to Alabama's decision
to bring back the chain gang, as well as the practice of shackling prisoners
for as long as seven hours to chest-high horizontal bars called "hitching
posts." The judge continued that, "If South Africa can sign a new democratic
constitution and Pakistan can take steps toward a ban on flogging, surely
the State of Alabama, in the United States of America, can learn from its
lamentable past and embrace modest principles of human rights." But it
wasn't to be.
In 1999, three years after being returned to Alabama, Chance appeared before
the parole board. Alabama Parole Board chairwoman Gladys Riddle and board
member Johnny Johnson noted that Chance had been 15 years old at the time of
his crime, that he was not the killer, and that he had led an exemplary life
in Michigan. The board voted to grant him parole.
Alabama Attorney General Bill Pryor condemned the recommendation, and
Governor Don Siegelman, a Democrat who would later be sentenced to seven
years in a federal prison on what many believe to be trumped up political
charges, called on the board to immediately reverse its decision. Siegelman
asked rhetorically why the board would release a "convicted killer" after
the state had spent more than $200,000 only three years earlier to have him
extradited from Michigan. The board rescinded its decision and Chance
remained in prison.
Chance came up for parole many times over the next two decades. He told the
board each time about how he had maintained an exemplary disciplinary
record, how he had earned a GED and a college degree in theology while
incarcerated, and about how he had developed life-threatening health
problems in prison. Indeed, during those years he developed kidney and heart
disease, had two heart attacks, underwent quadruple bypass surgery,
developed diabetes, and had a stroke. His application for compassionate
release was denied. He finally died in November, chained to a hospital bed.
Phillip Chance is just one man. His is just one case. But it is an example
of everything that is wrong with the American judicial system. It's not a
system that seeks or pursues justice. It's a system that seeks punishment.
There is no rehabilitation. There is no compassion. There's just punishment.
And even then, we're backsliding.
Jeff Sessions is now Attorney General of the United States. It is he who
sets policy on prosecutions, on prison reform, and on sentencing reform.
Advocates of these reforms and of easing mandatory minimum sentencing made
huge strides under the Obama administration. And that wasn't easy. Obama
eventually came around, but for years he was no friend of reformers. Now
there's almost nothing to look forward to. What we can expect, though, at
least for the next four years, is to hear more stories like that of Phillip
Chance.
John Kiriakou is a former CIA counterterrorism officer and a former senior
investigator with the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. John became the
sixth whistleblower indicted by the Obama administration under the Espionage
Act - a law designed to punish spies. He served 23 months in prison as a
result of his attempts to oppose the Bush administration's torture program.
Reader Supported News is the Publication of Origin for this work. Permission
to republish is freely granted with credit and a link back to Reader
Supported News.
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