By: Robert Saleem Holbrook: Truthout
Decades ago, most people had never even heard the term “death by incarceration,” the racially discriminatory and cruel practice commonly known as life imprisonment. Now in 2023, the United Nations has condemned it and called on the United States to abolish it.
In October, as I sat facing the members of the UN Human Rights Committee in Geneva, Switzerland, my mind drifted to moments during my 27 years in prison when I was told I would die behind bars. I was sentenced to life without parole in 1991, when I was 16 years old. I beat the odds and made it home in 2018. Now, five years later, I had the implausible opportunity to speak on behalf of all those in the U.S. facing death by incarceration….