# Does life without parole really exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 2, 2001, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-life-without-parole-really-exist/48067 "2001-01-02T07:43:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/779978/32.png) [@Ringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ringo)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 7:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-life-without-parole-really-exist/48067/1 "2001-01-02T07:43:44Z")
I’ve just spent a bit of tonight reading about Caryl Chessman. What that’s got me to ponder is whether or not a sentence (in the U.S.; I realize we have many non-U.S. posters) of life without parole really means that, or do those in possesion of such sentences really have means to gain their freedom later? I think a lot of death-penalty advocates could be assuaged if we really knew that life without parole truly meant that. So, how about it, TM in the know? ---
**Author:** ![Pink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/71c47a/32.png) [@Pink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pink)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-life-without-parole-really-exist/48067/2 "2001-01-02T09:11:24Z")
I think any governor can release any prisoner in that state. And the president just released a bunch of guys, but nothing as bad as that. They have to have that power, to allow release of political prisoners, and to swap spies with the Russians, etc. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-life-without-parole-really-exist/48067/3 "2001-01-02T17:00:32Z")
The governor or president is issuing a pardon - that can always trump anything, though if a chief executive abused that privilege too blatantly they would be villified and their political careers would be over. A judge can certainly reccomend “no parole”, but it cannot be made absolutely binding, as far as I know. Leopold of the Loeb / Leopold murders was eventually paroled, perhaps with some justification. The judge in that case, IIRC, had stipulated “no parole”. Poet Carl Sandburg argued for Leopold’s parole years afterwards, even going so far as to offer Leopold a room in his own house. ---
**Author:** ![Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Tapioca\_Dextrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tapioca_Dextrin)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-life-without-parole-really-exist/48067/4 "2001-01-02T17:16:38Z")
Just don’t mess with the law in Louisiana. Lifers get life in [Angola](http://www.angolamuseum.org/index.htm) with no parole. Mind you, things have improved since it opened. Life used to mean life, but that was 5 years on average ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-life-without-parole-really-exist/48067/5 "2001-01-02T17:43:36Z")
I posted this before, but in ‘Great Debates’. Never say never. Ed Wein was sentenced to die in California, when Pat Brown, governor at the time, changed his sentence to life in prison with no parole, based on Brown’s philosophical opposition to the death penalty. Some years later, the sentence was changed from life with no parole to life, and he was duly paroled. (He was later re-arrested and convicted of kidnapping, rape, and murder, which is why I heard about him.) So at least in California, any sentence that can be imposed can be changed. Except one, but I want to keep this in ‘General Questions’. If it matters, there is currently a group of prisoners at large in the U.S., and the leader was sentenced to (IIRC) life in prison, or at least quite a number of years. All escaped, and have subsequently murdered a police officer. If life in prison doesn’t mean life in prison, there is no reason why life in prison with no parole should mean the person doesn’t ever get out. Willie Horton was sentenced to life in prison with no parole. They just didn’t call it parole; they called it furlough. The longer this goes on, the louder I hear ‘Great Debates’ calling. Happy New Year. ---
**Author:** ![Slacker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6bbea6/32.png) [@Slacker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slacker)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2001, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-life-without-parole-really-exist/48067/6 "2001-01-02T17:48:30Z")
42 states now have true LWOP. Unfortunately, Texas doesn’t (and never will, my state is too Death Penalty happy to ever consider an alternative). [http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/lwop.html](http://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org/lwop.html) Chris S