Kids in Prison: Voices of the Silenced

{ Part 1: De'Neair Stanley }

Today's blog features De'Neair Stanley. He was a child when sent to prison for 20 years in the State of Florida. The average sentence for an adult charged with the same crime is 5-10 years. Unfortunately for Stanley, he was disproportionately and excessively sentenced to 20 years in prison, double the average. He has no opportunity for review, as his crime was committed before the effective date of Florida's current laws. He has no parole, as we know, Florida does not have parole. Stanley was sentenced above the mandatory minimum and his sentencing guideline scoresheet as well. Stanley is a prime example of how Florida sends kids to prison and throws away the key.

De'Neair Stanley writes us today to voice his experiences:

"

Greetings, to every beautiful individual that this message reaches. My name is De'neair Stanley and when I was 17 years old, I committed an armed robbery with an accomplice that was 4 years my senior. After waiting two years in the county jail, at the tender age of 19, I was sentenced to 20 years in prison, followed by 10 years of probation with the FL DOC. I am currently incarcerated today and I'm soon to be 29 years old.

I take full responsibility for my actions, and punishment for my crime was necessary. Mind you, NOBODY was injured or harmed during the aforementioned infraction. The average imprisonment for an armed robbery in the state of Florida is 5-10 years. Why was I subjected to 20 years imprisonment, with a grand total of 30 years of overall supervision by the Department of Corrections? Great question. 

Please, take a second to imagine the feeling of having your youth and freedom snatched away from you by complete strangers. Those same strangers wanted to send me away for LIFE during my hearing. Those same strangers also asked for 40 years! My life was swiftly replaced with involuntary servitude. These same strangers didn't know or care about what could have possibly led my young soul to act out the way that it did as a teen. Nor did they ever take into consideration the potential my young soul had to learn to contribute something worthwhile to society. They just judged me, from a poor decision I made, rather than the content of my character. The consequences may not have been as severe had they listened to my story.

I share the same story as countless other young men whose story have yet to be heard.

Once inside the doc, I noticed the lifelessness of the other fellow inmates. I realized we were basically being warehoused. The officers, nor other staff, are as professional as one would think. Honestly, some are more criminal minded than the so-called criminals themselves, they have just never been caught. A title is just a title.

Every single person on earth is as unique as a fingerprint. Yet, once arrested or incarcerated you just become numbers, or an "inmate", which is a byword to Americans. Thereafter, we're treated as such in every way imaginable. Yet, to our loved ones we're still somebody. A son, brother, father, nephew, uncle, and friend. To them we still hold a value and substance. To the system we're the scum of the earth.

Some of us, not ALL of us, just made a rather poor decision. I can say this with firm conviction, and you may or may not agree, as adolescents we aren't always the brightest individuals. We're faced with a barrage of obstacles. To name a few, peer pressure, abuse, whether it be physically or verbally, and identity crisis.

It has been stated by R.D. Ingthorsson: That a human being is a biological creature from birth but is from then on shaped as a person through social influences. And in that sense a social construction, a product of society.

De'Neair Stanley DC#L97661

"

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Background:

Now I don't know about you all, but this sounds all too familiar.

If you haven't heard of the historic juvenile United States Supreme Court case Graham v. Florida, then allow me to provide you the key details.

 Terrence Graham also committed an armed robbery as a child. The details and circumstances of his case differ a bit from Stanley's, yet both received quite similar excessive punishments. Graham was sentenced to life in prison for his non-homicide crime by the Florida courts. Just to remind you, 5-10 years is the average sentence for an armed robbery in Florida.

In 2010, Graham took his case to the US Supreme Court, which ultimately ruled that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life in prison when they do not have a review mechanism. Florida has no parole, so there is no review. The US Supreme court noted the average sentence in Florida (5-10 years) was much less than Graham's life without parole sentence.  Graham was excessively and disproportionately sentenced to life in prison for a crime that has a 5–10-year average. After the ruling, he was able to obtain a sentencing review hearing. We will discuss Graham in more detail in our upcoming blogs.

Do you think that Graham is the only one in Florida that has received an excessive and disproportionate sentence? The answer is NO.

Stanley is yet another example of this very thing.

Stanley's least permissible sentence: 65.7 months

(65.7 months = 5.4 years)

Noted minimum mandatory: 10 years

Stanley's Actual Punishment: 20 years in prison

plus 10 years probation