FOREWARD
This publication, Here I Am, Buried Alive, contains excerpts of an interview I conducted in 2018 with Efrén Paredes Jr., one of the nation’s 2,100 juvenile lifers. Juvenile lifers are people who were arrested for crimes committed before age 18 and sentenced to mandatory life without parole sentences (LWOP). He is now 45-years-old and has been incarcerated for two-thirds of his life. I conducted the interview on the phone, via Global Tel-link (a contracted private phone provider for inmates) and through written and digital letters, via JPay (an email service available in some correctional facilities).
Efren was arrested for the 1989 murder and robbery of his boss, a store manager in St. Joseph, Michigan. He was 15 at the time of his arrest and has spent the past 29 years behind bars. He is now 45-years-old and has been incarcerated for two-thirds of his life.
Efren was arrested for the 1989 murder and robbery of his store manager in St. Joseph, Michigan. He was 15 at the time of his arrest and has spent the past 29 years behind bars. Efren was convicted primarily based on circumstantial evidence and false statements of witnesses who admitted guilt of committing crimes themselves. He has denied committing the crime he was convicted of for nearly three decades and has tirelessly fought to vindicate himself of the charges against him.
The United States is the only country in the world to sentence people to life in prison without parole for crimes they committed before they were 18. Most of the approximately 2,100 individuals sentenced as juveniles to life without the possibility of parole now have a chance for release in the wake of recent Supreme Court decisions. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have banned life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles; and in several other states, no one is serving the sentence. At the time of his sentencing, Efrén was the youngest person in Michigan’s history to receive the sentence. Today, Michigan has the second highest number of people serving JLWOP sentence in the country: 346 people. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama, that the federal government is required to consider the unique circumstances of each juvenile defendant in determining an individualized sentence. Now for juveniles, a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole is unconstitutional. In 2016, the Supreme Court ruled in Montgomery v. Louisiana that the Miller v. Alabama decision can be applied retroactively. This ruling was based on research based on the understanding that a child’s brain development is different from an adult’s fully developed brain in ways that are critical to identifying age appropriate criminal sentences. Today, when juvenile lifers are resentenced, they must demonstrate their capacity for change and contest their irredeemability in order to become free.
The purpose of conducing this oral history interview is to bring transparency and accountability to JLWOP sentences and the criminal justice system. Efrén seeks to share how his experience serving 29 years behind bars motivated him to become an activist who addresses JWLOP, prison conditions and the rights of incarcerated people and their families. In addition, Efrén hopes this interview will demonstrate his transformation before his upcoming resentencing hearing. In order to be granted his freedom, Efrén must prove he is not “irredeemable” and that he is capable of change.
The various topics discussed in the interview are broken down into the following sections.
ABOUT
CASE DETAILS + TRIAL
RESENTENCING PROCESS
JUVENILE LIFE WITHOUT PAROLE
ACTIVISM
ADVOCACY
COMMUNICATION
GRIEVANCES
MENTORSHIP
RACE
RECIDIVISM
REENTRY
REHABILIATION
VOICE / VISIBILITY
PRISON LIFE
DAILY LIFE
GANGS
INTERACTION WITH PRISONERS + STAFF
MISCONDUCT / PUNISHMENT
SOLITARY CONFINEMENT
TRANSFERS
VIOLENCE
WORK
PERSONAL LIFE
EDUCATION
FAMILY
MUSIC
RELIGION / SPIRITUALITY
VISITATIONS
When I first met Efren in January of 2015, he was speaking on a panel from his cell via speakerphone, about JWLOP, as a part of Tirtza Even’s “Natural Life” film screening and exhibition. At the time, I did not even know what a “natural life” sentence was. It actually sounded kind of nice, at least based off of my associations with the word natural —good, just, simple, etc. But a natural life sentence, is actually very unnatural — it is not only a form of cruel and unusual punishment, but it is perhaps the most unnatural way to live and to die.
In US law, natural life is a legal term that describes how a life ends. A death that is natural is a destined death — it’s the ending we wish to have after a life fully lived; a death caused by the inevitable dismantling of our bodies into invisibility. There is nobody to blame, no tragic accident, nothing to push back against…. just the beautiful tragedy of being carbon that got lucky.
Although most of us will live and die a natural life, I have only heard the term used to describe a person who has received a life sentence, or a sentence to die in prison. That means you are not eligible to even be considered for parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
It is a life where death stares at you in the face every day. It is a life that challenges the human instinct for survival.
Natural life is cold, lumpy oatmeal at 5:30 am.
Natural life is the colour and taste of concrete.
Natural life is being in your cell for count at 5am, 11am, 3pm, 7pm, and 10pm — no matter what.
Natural life is stuffing toilet paper in your ears to block out the constant noise so that you can stay calm.
Natural life is never being able to lay beneath the night sky and stare into the constellations again. It’s being afraid to fall sleep at night because sleep is too close to death.
Natural life is never being able to be hold or be held by the person you love.
Natural life is not being trusted — it is being watched and listened to every moment for the rest of your life.
Natural life is being told that the world is not for you, anymore. That you are irredeemable.
Natural life is dying in a place where you will not be missed.
According to a new report issued by the Sentencing Project, nearly 162,000 inmates are serving a natural life sentence, or one out of every nine people in prison. In addition, 44,311 individuals are serving “virtual life” sentences of 50 years or more, a sentence in which it’s likely the person will die in custody.
In the U.S., we don’t even really know how many people die behind bars each year — the data is incomplete and ambiguous. There is no streamlined data collection process that can be applied to collect data from state prisons, federal prisons, private prisons, and juvenile detention centers. Estimates suggest anywhere from 4,400 to 7,000 inmates die in jail and prisons every year. This does not count suicides. Yet, we continue to design prisons to be places that punish, instead of rehabilitate, people. To survive one must cultivate hope, or risk becoming institutionalized.
This is our criminal justice system.
The United States is the only country in the world to sentence people to life in prison without parole for crimes they committed before they were 18. Most of the approximately 2,100 individuals sentenced as juveniles to life without the possibility of parole now have a chance for release in the wake of recent Supreme Court decisions. Twenty states and the District of Columbia have banned life sentences without the possibility of parole for juveniles; and in a several other states, no one is serving the sentence. At the time of his sentencing, Efrén Paredes Jr., was the youngest person in in Michigan’s history to receive the sentence. Today, Michigan has the second highest number of people serving JLWOP sentence in the country, 346 people. In 2012, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Miller v. Alabama, that the federal government is required to consider the unique circumstances of each juvenile defendant in determining an individualized sentence.
In 2016, the Montgomery v. Louisiana decision, ensures that the decision applies retroactively. For juveniles, a mandatory life sentence without the possibility of parole is unconstitutional. This ruling was based on research which confirms the understanding that children are different from adults in ways that are critical to identifying age appropriate criminal sentences. If resentenced, juvenile lifers must demonstrate their capacity for change and contest their irredeemability in order to considered for parole.
