Crime, Minority Issues, Prisons

O.J. Beats The Race Card Again

One-in-four white inmates are released following their first parole hearing, while fewer than one-in-six black inmates are.

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O.J. Simpson

The New York Times ran an investigative report last year demonstrating how black and Hispanic inmates fare worse than their white counterparts when it comes to being paroled.

According to the series, one-in-four white inmates are released following their first parole hearing, while fewer than one-in-six black inmates are. O.J. Simpson beat those odds last week when he was granted release after serving his minimum term of imprisonment — nine years.

In December 2008, O.J. was convicted of armed robbery for stealing his own memorabilia and sentenced to 33 years with parole eligibility after nine.  He will now be released as early as October 2017, scoring big by “making his first board.”

Parole is a crap-shoot. As noted in the NYT investigation, most inmates don’t make their first board and can be held in up to the maximum sentence date.

Factors the parole board looks at to determine parole eligibility include the person’s prison disciplinary record, the nature of the underlying crime, whether the inmate participated in any educational/rehab programs offered in prison (few and far between), and the inmate’s general likelihood to stay out of trouble.

But here’s the problem.  According to the Times’ report, black and Hispanic men are 30 percent more likely to be cited for prison infractions than white inmates. While some of the infractions can be serious, like attacking a guard or another inmate, many are trivial, like being late for shower, or taking food out of the mess hall. That’s where the discretion of the guard plays a part.  Some guards, with better interpersonal skills, might take a different tact when a small infraction occurs.  For example, rather than “writing the inmate up” for being late to shower, they might just remind the inmate to get to the shower on time the next day, or look the other way if he brings bread to his cell. Other guards, however (especially where the guards are white and the inmates are black or Hispanic), might lord the infraction over the inmate. They might start a shouting match that often leads to further violence, leaving the inmate with a permanent demerit on his record in addition to possible serious punishment or a new crime. Even if an inmate is inadvertently in a group when a fight breaks out, and even if he is the one injured, he can still be ticketed and punished.

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Once these disciplinary actions accumulate, the inmate gets a reputation for being trouble and is guaranteed not to make his first board.  I have a client who was sentenced at age 21 to 25 years to life for murder.  He picked up a number of disciplinary tickets for trying to help jailed Dominicans (like him) in prison.  (There is a lot of fighting among different groups in prison — Crips against Bloods, Bloods against Trinitarios, Trinis against Latin Kings, etc.) Parole branded him as a “gang leader,” although in his mind, he was just trying to keep the peace.

His first board appearance was when he was in his mid 40s. The board didn’t grant it.  He’s now almost 60 and still lobbying to be released. Even though he obtained a college degree in prison and writes better than many academic scholars, he may never be released from jail and has spent most of the last 30 years in solitary confinement.

Many in the public believe that inmates get off easy, that they serve just a fraction of their sentences, and that the prison system coddles them. This just isn’t accurate.  At least for violent-crime convictions (robberies, burglaries, assaults, etc.), inmates serve close to the full amount of their minimum sentences (sometimes minus one-seventh or thereabouts for “good time” depending on the state or whether the person is in federal custody). Most often, however, they serve more than the minimum if the sentence is given as a range of time such as O.J.’s — nine to 33 years.  (It’s true that inmates convicted of non-violent or white-collar offenses such as larcenies, drug possession, fraud, etc. may get out earlier than their minimum if they qualify for programs, but this all depends on where they are incarcerated, as well as the good-will of whomever makes those decisions.)

Early parole on violent crimes is meted out parsimoniously. The system is a bureaucracy where the operative word is “no.” And even if a person is released on his first board, his time with parole is not done. He’s just been “paroled out.”  Once out of jail, that’s when his time on parole actually begins.

Back in society, the former prisoner is then monitored and supervised by a parole officer for years to come, sometimes the rest of his life. Parole may order that the parolee report once a week, that his urine be tested, that he have a curfew, that he not leave the state, etc.  (If you’re labeled a “sexual offender,” there are even more restrictions and safeguards.) One misstep, like a dirty urine or a shop lift, could land the person right back in jail.

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It makes me wonder — if only parole did as good a job helping inmates get housing and work when they leave prison as they do on policing their actions while on parole, there’d be a lot less recidivism.

Back to O.J.  Even though he is “black” (in quotes, because even though this fact played into why the jury in his murder trial acquitted him, he never apparently self-identified as “black”), he was granted release after having served only his minimum sentence. The statistics of racial disparity for parole consideration didn’t seem to apply to him. He didn’t succumb to the trap many black and Hispanic inmates encounter in jail — being cited for infractions and violations even for minimal misbehavior.  He has a place to live when he leaves and even though his crime was a violent one, he led what appears to have been an exemplary life in prison acting as a role model — just do your time and don’t cause any trouble — for other inmates.

In his televised parole hearing, he distinguished himself from the rest of the riff-raff in jail by saying, “I’ve basically spent a conflict-free life.  I’m not a guy who ever got in a fight in the street or with the public or anybody.”  I guess the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ron Goldman never entered his mind (or the parole board’s).

In reality, older men (O.J. is now 70) with means, education, and families have the best chance of never reoffending when granted parole.  However, when O.J. walks out of prison in October, parole officials will still be watching over his shoulder to make sure that’s the case.  A DWI or an argument with a friend can land him right back in jail and fighting again for release.

Toni Messina has tried over 100 cases and has been practicing criminal law and immigration since 1990. You can follow her on Twitter: @tonitamess.

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