Megan Powell
Mar 9, 2024
“Hope is being able to see that there is light despite all of the darkness.”
- Desmond Tutu
For people serving life with parole sentences in South Carolina, the hope for release on parole dwindles with every passing day. South Carolina currently has one of the lowest parole rate grants in the entire country, and as a result, some of the people who deserve release the most are being kept in prison. “I know for a fact I will never violate the law again. I’d be a fool to come back here if given a chance for parole,” said a currently incarcerated person.
On February 19th, Time Served hosted Reawakening Hope—a collaborative event aimed at energizing and motivating advocates from all over South Carolina who care about sentencing, parole, and reentry reform, and providing a glimmer of hope for the people who are currently incarcerated in South Carolina. “This is the first time I’ve seen this,” said Jerry Blassingame, Founder and Executive Director of Soteria CDC. “I’ve been out 25 years, and this is the first time that I’ve seen formerly incarcerated people in a room getting ready to organize.”
Photos courtesy of Isaac Ellison, Time Capsule Media, LLC. Time Served is extremely grateful for Mr. Ellison's donation of his time and services in covering this event.
The crowd was comprised of a record-breaking number of formerly incarcerated advocates, loved ones of currently incarcerated people, and colleagues from local and national organizations, including:
· The Campaign for Fair Sentencing of Youth;
· Families Against Mandatory Minimums;
· South Carolinians for Alternatives to the Death Penalty;
· University of South Carolina School of Law;
· Justice360;
· South Carolina Appleseed Legal Justice Center;
· Soteria CDC;
· JumpStart;
· FreshStart Visions 5.0;
· And more.
In addition to hearing stories of hope and change from formerly incarcerated advocates, we discussed the 2024 policy priorities of the SCJP, which include reforming South Carolina’s broken parole and compassionate release systems, eliminating juvenile life without parole, and passing Ban the Box legislation.