By ALGIS BALIUNAS / NEW YORK TIMES
Larry Hoover at Colorado federal supermax prison, 2021 (Photo: US Dist. Court records / Chicago Sun-Times)
I came of age as a prosecutor at the onset of the most punitive period in modern American history. It was the 1970s in Chicago, and President Richard Nixon spoke often of the urgency of getting drugs off our streets. Crime rates were high. Communities were under strain.
When prosecuting cases, my colleagues and I treated harsh prison sentences as common sense. We believed people who committed serious crimes would remain dangerous for decades. We believed long prison terms protected the public. The political and legal culture rewarded severity. Long sentences felt not only justified, but necessary.
“We were wrong. I have seen people change behind bars in ways the criminal justice system did not anticipate. Some of the people I prosecuted decades ago remain in prison today. They are in their 60s and 70s, and their health has declined. They move slowly. Whatever risk these prisoners once posed has changed with time….