FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 17, 2021
Media Contact: Adam Kemerer | [email protected] | 412-728-2340

Henry Montgomery has been granted parole

Henry Montgomery, the petitioner in the 2016 landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Montgomery v. Louisiana, was finally granted parole today more than five years after the Court ruled in his favor. 

Mr. Montgomery is 75 years old and has been in prison for over 57 years. He was convicted of a homicide in 1963 in East Baton Rouge Parish when he was just 17 years old.

“The decision to grant Mr. Montgomery parole today is long overdue,” says Jody Kent Lavy, co-executive director of the Campaign for the Fair Sentencing of Youth. “It’s a grave injustice that he has served over 57 years in prison for a crime he committed as a teenager, despite evidence he was rehabilitated long ago. We are the only country in the world that condemns children — disproportionately children of color — to die in prison, and we must recognize that this fight is not over.”

Since Montgomery v. Louisiana was decided, more than 800 people who were once sentenced to life without parole as children have been released from prison. Today, 31 states and the District of Columbia either ban life without parole for children or have no one serving the sentence.

If you have additional questions, please reach out to Adam Kemerer at [email protected]