Pope’s words give inmates hope, say advocates for fair sentencing
By Sarah Hinds, Catholic News Service
June 18, 2014
More than 2,000 people across the United States are currently serving life sentences without parole for crimes they committed as children.
“We are looked down on by society, an embarrassment to be swept under the rug and forgotten,” wrote one inmate.
Pope Francis recently sent a message of hope to a group of these prisoners.
In early May, the pope responded to hundreds of letters from inmates incarcerated for life as juveniles, assuring them of his prayers and that the Lord “knows and loves each one of them.”