Solitary for Juveniles Out; All Inmates Sentenced to Life While Minors Can Now Apply for Parole

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Two longstanding and controversial prison policies–one involving former juveniles and another relating to current ones–are to halt, following announcements made this week by the U.S. Supreme Court and President Obama.

In 2012, SCOTUS ruled sentencing minors to life without parole to be unconstitutional. On Monday, 6 of 3 justices decided that the ruling must be applied retroactively. The ruling reverses the court's decision from 2012's Miller v. Alabama, which found that juveniles sentenced to life prior to that decision should not be able to apply for changing their sentencing terms.

On Monday's decision for Montgomery v. Louisiana, Justice Anthony Kennedy advised prisoners such as Louisiana inmate Henry Montgomery, who was convicted of killing a sheriff's deputy in 1963 and sentenced at 17, "must be given the opportunity to show their crime did not reflect irreparable corruption; and, if it did not, their hope for some years of life outside prison walls must be restored.“

On Tuesday, President Obama announced through a Washington Post opinion editorial that he would take executive action to ensure that juveniles could no longer face solitary confinement in prison. In addition, adult inmates would no longer face solitary as punishment for committing nonviolent offenses.