Ian Manuel
Édouard Hue (User:EdouardHue), CC BY-SA 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
A Modern Day Representation
At the age of 13, Ian Manuel was given a life sentence to die in prison. Ian Manuel was directed by his older friends to commit a robbery. This robbery attempt lead to Manuel pulling the trigger on a woman. The woman, Debbie Baigrie, walked away with a nonfatal gunshot wound. After search for the suspect, Ian Manuel turned himself in and was immediately charged as if he was an adult with the charges of robbery and attempted murder. On top of all that, Ian Manuel was under an attorney who belligerently told him to plead guilty. The attorney believed that pleading guilty would give him only 15-years in prison, only to later be decided it would be life in prison with no parole.
In prison, Ian Manuel spent 18 years in solitary confinement.
The Equal Justice Initiative stepped in on Ian Manuel's case to eventually free him and give him back his freedom. Interestingly enough, the victim, Debbie Baigrie, was working hand-in-hand with the Equal Justice Initiative and Bryan Stevenson to work against the United States prison system. The Equal Justice Initiative argued for cruel and unusual punishment, which states that sentencing a 13-year-old to life is unjust. He was released after many court cases on November 11, 2016.
Ian Manuel's roots are important to note. Manuel grew up homeless in a troubled neighborhood full of violence. His poetry and words detailing his upbringing and survival in prison are beautifully written and spoken to the masses in his own story titled, My Time Will Come. The story builds upon the unfreedom faced within the prison system, the lack of positive and negative freedom (Isaiah Berlin in Two Concepts of Liberty). The United States takes the ideas of slavery- unfreedom, solitary confinement, unjust treatment, and racial discrimination- and calls it prison.
The United States remains one of the few (alongside South Africa and Israel) to sentence children to life in prison with no parole. More times than not, these children are children of color. Slavery exists still, it's seen in prisons.
In prison, Ian Manuel spent 18 years in solitary confinement.
The Equal Justice Initiative stepped in on Ian Manuel's case to eventually free him and give him back his freedom. Interestingly enough, the victim, Debbie Baigrie, was working hand-in-hand with the Equal Justice Initiative and Bryan Stevenson to work against the United States prison system. The Equal Justice Initiative argued for cruel and unusual punishment, which states that sentencing a 13-year-old to life is unjust. He was released after many court cases on November 11, 2016.
Ian Manuel's roots are important to note. Manuel grew up homeless in a troubled neighborhood full of violence. His poetry and words detailing his upbringing and survival in prison are beautifully written and spoken to the masses in his own story titled, My Time Will Come. The story builds upon the unfreedom faced within the prison system, the lack of positive and negative freedom (Isaiah Berlin in Two Concepts of Liberty). The United States takes the ideas of slavery- unfreedom, solitary confinement, unjust treatment, and racial discrimination- and calls it prison.
The United States remains one of the few (alongside South Africa and Israel) to sentence children to life in prison with no parole. More times than not, these children are children of color. Slavery exists still, it's seen in prisons.