ILLUSTRATION BY EMILY HAMMERMEISTER
Op-Ed: Create Pathways to Parole for ‘Violent Offenders’ Research, cost, and low rates of recidivism agree: Illinois needs a pathway to parole. BY PHIL HARTSFIELD
G
eorge Knights is seventy-four years old, which is somewhat rare in the penitentiary, and everyone calls him Mr. Knights because he is our elder. Mr. Knights has served more than two life sentences for a violent crime he was convicted of in 1970. Because he was sentenced before the so-called
truth-in-sentencing laws were enacted in the 1990s, Mr. Knights gets to see the parole board, but has consistently been denied parole. He related to me how he never read a book on the outside, and how he had turned his time in the penitentiary into a mind-building place where he
has rehabilitated himself. After he had been incarcerated for a few years, his wife told him she was afraid that, since he had changed so much, she might not recognize him anymore. He says he has changed—but for the better. Now he is nowhere near the same person he used to be. If he were released, his daughter, his
grandkids, and his surviving family are the only ones he would have time for, and because of that, plus the years spent here and his age, he would have no problem staying out of prison. Mr. Knights moves slowly, though his steps seem to be thought out. I’ve had the pleasure of observing him for several
NOVEMBER 25, 2021 ¬ SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY 9
