Dear friend,

At age 17, Charles Brown was locked up and told he would die behind bars. Barely old enough to shave, with zero criminal history, he faced a mandatory life without parole sentence.

Charles couldn't accept the bleak outlook. "I knew I was a better person than what the court, society, and the prison staff said," he says now. "I was not a monster nor a lifer, and I refused to let those labels define me. I grew from a naïve kid into a respected leader in the prison community, becoming a facilitator in reentry and cognitive-behavioral groups. I worked closely with thousands of men, showing them better methods to manage their anger."

Charles was released from prison in 2017 after reforms made it unconstitutional to sentence a child to mandatory life without parole. Now 55, this gentle, serious man is committed to guiding young people, working hard, and advocating reform. He didn't need a life sentence, and he didn’t need 36 years.

People serving extremely long sentences need a mechanism to show the system and society that they deserve a second chance, like the one Charles got. There are thousands of people behind bars who, like Charles, would be positive and thriving members of their communities if our sentencing laws provided opportunities to revisit extreme sentences and grant second chances.

More than 4,000 people have already joined us in support of our Second Chances Agenda. If you haven’t yet, please take a moment to add your name to FAMM's Second Chances Agenda petition.

Together, we can make second chances a reality of our criminal justice system.

Best,

Kevin Ring
President, FAMM

P.S. You can learn more about our Second Chances Agenda at famm.org/secondchances.