Life on Hold: People Sentenced to Life with Parole Often Stuck in Limbo

[WASHINGTON, D.C.] – A new report from The Sentencing Project, Justice Delayed: The Growing Wait for Parole After a Life Sentence, found that nearly half of the roughly 200,000 people serving life sentences in 2024 are eligible for parole, but endure extended delays in the parole process – from the wait for initial eligibility to the wait for reconsideration following a denial. As of 2024, 46 states have people serving life with parole sentences, and over the past five decades, legislators across the country have increased minimum eligibility dates for parole consideration, and governors have appointed parole commissioners who are reluctant to grant release, exacerbating the issue further.

Justice Delayed delves deep into the state of the parole system for parole-eligible lifers in five states: Colorado, Georgia, Louisiana, Maryland, and Minnesota. The report explores the factors contributing to these delays, including long wait times for first and subsequent hearings, parole grant rates, race and gender disparities, and a systemic disregard for human dignity, all of which have rendered the parole system nearly ineffective. The report also spotlights firsthand accounts of Aaron Banks, who has been denied parole 5 times in Georgia, and Anthony Muhammad, who was denied parole in Maryland and only found freedom through a reform bill allowing judicial resentencing.

Originally designed to balance community safety with reintegration, the new report finds that even though the number of individuals serving life with the possibility of parole has declined by 11% since its peak in 2012, experts doubt the efficacy of parole in its existing form because prospects for release remain low for those with eligible sentences.

“Increasing delays in parole hearings not only extend punishment but also exert additional strain on families, communities, and state budgets. Parole was designed as a mechanism for second chances, not permanent punishment. Yet today, the process is marked by excessive wait times, low grant rates, and opaque decision-making that undermines its core purpose,” said Sabrina Pearce, author of Justice Delayed: The Growing Wait for Parole After a Life Sentence and Research Associate at The Sentencing Project. “If we want a legal system that reflects fairness and respects human dignity, we must ensure that the parole process functions efficiently and equitably, providing timely release for those who are eligible.”

Key Findings Include: 

• Parole grant rates are declining across the country, with fewer hearings held and increased political resistance to second chances.
• Two-thirds of people serving life sentences are people of color, and one in five Black men in prison is serving a life term.
• In Colorado, parole eligibility for life-sentenced individuals has steadily eroded—rising from 10 years to 40 years before eligibility, with most sentenced for class 1 felonies after 1990 now entirely excluded from parole consideration.
• Georgia has steadily lengthened parole wait times for life-sentenced individuals—from 7 years (pre-1995) to 14 years (1995–2006) to 30 years (post-2006)—and since 1985, parole reviews occur every 8 years instead of every three years.
• After decades of releasing lifers after just 10 years and six months, Louisiana abolished parole for life sentences in 1979. While some reforms have restored parole for a few groups, most lifers remain incarcerated without a clear path to release.
• Despite recent reforms eliminating gubernatorial approval and expanding access for youth and young adults in Maryland, most eligible individuals still face delays due to denials, an unwillingness to grant parole at the initial hearing, and a lengthy review process.
• In Minnesota, parole wait times for life-sentenced individuals have significantly increased. Those sentenced after 1989 must now serve at least 30 years before becoming eligible for parole, up from 17 years for those sentenced before 1989.

The Sentencing Project makes the following recommendations in the report: 

• Allow initial parole hearings within 10 years of imprisonment
• Establish a presumption of release
• Allow rehearings to occur annually
• Ensure procedural safeguards to promote fair consideration
• Expand release opportunities beyond parole, such as judicial sentence reviews established through second look and domestic violence survivor laws
• Prioritize respect for human dignity throughout all steps of the process

To read the full report visit: https://www.sentencingproject.org/app/uploads/2025/05/Justice-Delayed-The-Growing-Wait-for-Parole-After-a-Life-Sentence.pdf.