After 68 years in prision, America's oldest juvenile lifer was released 美國最老少年犯服刑68年後出獄
By Heather Law and Evan Simko-Bednarski, CNN
(CNN)Joe Ligon, believed to be the oldest and longest-serving juvenile lifer in the United States, has been released from a Pennsylvania prison after spending nearly seven decades behind bars.
（CNN）喬·利貢（Joe Ligon）被認為是美國最年長且服刑時間最長的少年犯。近期在服刑近七十年後，他從賓夕法尼亞州一家監獄獲釋。
Ligon was incarcerated in February 1953 at the age of 15, given a mandatory life sentence after pleading guilty to charges stemming from a robbery and stabbing spree in Philadelphia with four other teenage boys. The crime left six people wounded and two people -- identified by the Philadelphia Inquirer as Charles Pitts and Jackson Hamm -- dead.
1953年，年僅15歲的利貢因對他和其他四名青少年於費城搶劫並持刀行兇的指控認罪而入獄，他被判處無期徒刑。該案造成六人受傷，兩人死亡，《費城詢問報》確認兩名死者為查爾斯·皮茨和傑克遜·哈姆。
"I got caught up, in terms of being in the streets," Ligon told CNN after his release last week.
「我在街頭時，卷進去（打鬥）了」，利貢在上周獲釋後對告訴CNN說。
While a so-called degree of guilt hearing found Ligon guilty of two counts of first-degree murder, and Ligon admitted to stabbing at least one of the eight people stabbed that day, his attorney Bradley Bridge told CNN that his client maintains he never killed anyone.
雖然一場所謂的「罪行程度聽證會」判定利貢犯有兩項一級謀殺罪，而且利貢也承認他對當天被刺的八個人中的至少一位行刺，但他的律師布拉德利·布裡奇卻告訴CNN他的委託人堅稱自己從未殺害任何人。
"The child that committed those crimes back in 1953 no longer exists. The person that came out of prison in 2021 is 83 years old, has grown, changed, and is no longer a threat," Bridge said. "He has amply repaid society for the damage and harm that he did. And now, it's appropriate that he spends the last years of his life in freedom."
「1953年犯下那些罪行的那個孩子已經不存在了。2021年出獄的這個人83歲了，他已經成長，改變，不再（對社會）造成威脅。他已為自己對這個社會造成的損害做出了充分的補償。而現在，讓他在生命的最後幾年以自由之身度過是適當的，」布裡奇說。
"I'm a grownup now," Ligon said. "I'm not a kid anymore. Not only am I a grown man, I'm an old man and getting older every day."
「我現在是成年人了，我不再是個孩子。我不僅是一個成年人，也是一個老人，而且每天都在衰老。」利貢說。
Ligon's road to release has been a long one.
利貢的獲釋之路很漫長。
In the 1970s, Ligon and his accomplices were granted the option of clemency from Pennsylvania's governor. While two of the men chose to accept the offer, clemency meant being on parole, which Ligon rejected.
上世紀70年代，利貢和他的同案犯獲得了賓夕法尼亞州州長的寬大處理。雖然其中兩人選擇接受這一提議，但寬大處理意味著假釋，利貢拒絕假釋。
Rejecting parole
拒絕假釋
He turned down another offer of parole in 2017, after a ruling by the US Supreme Court made him eligible.
2017年在美國最高法院裁決他符合假釋條件後，他又拒絕了。
A year before, in 2016, the court had decided that Miller v. Alabama, a 2012 case in which mandatory juvenile life sentences without the prospect of parole were deemed unlawful, should be applied retroactively. The decision effectively resentenced Ligon to 35 years to life, and made him eligible for parole since he had been in prison for over 60 years.
此前一年，也就是2016年，美國最高法院裁定，在2012年的米勒訴阿拉巴馬案(Miller v. Alabama)中，沒有假釋前景的強制性青少年終身監禁，是被認為是非法的，應該追溯適用。這一決定實際上讓被判終身監禁至35年的利貢，使他有資格獲得假釋，因為他已經在監獄裡呆了60多年。
But Ligon rejected the offer again, stating parole would not grant him the freedom he desired after decades in prison.
但是，利貢再次拒絕了他的請求，他說假釋不會給他在數十年的牢獄生活中所渴望的自由。
"The state parole board presumably would have released him but on condition that he would be under their supervision for the rest of his life," Bridge said. "He chose not to seek parole under those terms."
布裡奇說:「賓夕法尼亞州假釋委員會可能會釋放他，但條件是他將在他們的監督下度過餘生。」因此，「根據這些條款，他選擇不尋求假釋。」
Bridge, who has represented Ligon for 15 years now, ultimately argued that a mandatory life sentence for a crime Ligon committed as a juvenile was unconstitutional. After a failed hearing at the Pennsylvania intermediate appellate court, Bridge managed to bring the case to the federal court and won the issue in November 2020, which ultimately granted Ligon freedom under his own terms in 2021.
布裡奇已經為利貢辯護了15年，他最終認為，對利貢在未成年時所犯的罪行強制判處終身監禁是違憲的。在賓夕法尼亞中級上訴法院的聽證會失敗後，布裡奇設法將案件提交到聯邦法院，並在2020年11月贏得了這個問題，最終在2021年允許利貢在他自己的任期內獲得自由。
Now that Ligon is out of prison, his work reentering society has begun.
現在利貢出獄了，他重新進入社會的工作開始了。
John Pace, a former inmate and current reentry coordinator for the Philadelphia-based Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project (YSRP), said he's been working with Ligon to help him land on his feet.
約翰·佩斯（John Pace）曾經是一名囚犯，現在是費城青少年量刑與再入項目(YSRP)的再入協調員。他說，他一直在與利貢合作，幫助他重新站起來。
Pace was only 17 years old when he, himself, was incarcerated for mugging and assaulting a man. He spent the next 31 years imprisoned. After being released, Pace said he felt a sort of sickness after suddenly being exposed to his new reality.
當年，佩斯本人因搶劫和襲擊一名男子而入獄時，他只有17歲。他在監獄裡度過了接下來的31年。被釋放後，佩斯說，突然接觸到新的現實後，他感到一種噁心。
Entering a new world 進入一個新的世界
"You're in a prison environment where there's not a lot of stimulation. You're not allowed to have contact with people. Your interactions are very limited. And so, there's not a lot of stimulation," said Pace. "So now you come out of prison, and just imagine all this, you can do what you want now. And what do you do with that?"
「你處在一個沒有太多刺激的監獄環境中。你不能和別人接觸。你的互動非常有限。所以沒有多少刺激。」佩斯說道。「所以現在你從監獄裡出來，想像一下這一切，你現在可以做你想做的。你拿它做什麼?」
Bridge, Pace and several others have been working with Ligon to weather the shock of entering a new world.
布裡奇、佩斯和其他幾個人一直在與利貢合作，以抵禦進入新世界的衝擊。
This included finding Ligon housing via domiciliary care, where he has been living with a Philadelphia family that has played a role in assisting in the reentry process.
這包括通過家庭護理為利貢找到住房，利貢一直與費城的一個家庭生活在一起，這個家庭在幫助他重返美國的過程中發揮了作用。
There will always be people who think Joe should be in jail for the rest of his life," Pace said. "Joe has control over how he demonstrates who he is today, and he hopes that's enough to help other people realize how he's trying to help other people use better judgment."
佩斯說:「總會有人認為利貢應該在監獄裡度過餘生。」「利貢可以控制自己如何展現今天的自己，他希望這足以幫助其他人意識到，他是在幫助別人更好地進行判斷。」
Ligon said he wanted others to learn from his experience.
利貢說，他希望其他人能從他的經歷中吸取教訓。
"I'm really looking forward to pleasing people and help people the way they're helping me," Ligon said, adding, "meeting some of the younger generation, with some of the older generation, and some of the reporters ... to share some of my story."
利貢說:「我真的很期待能取悅人們，幫助人們，就像他們幫助我一樣。」他還補充道，「和一些年輕的一代，一些年長的一代，還有一些記者……來分享一些我的故事。」
Asked what it was like to be back in the world a day and a half after his release, Ligon had this to say:
當被問及被釋放一天半後回到這個世界上是什麼感覺時，利貢這樣說道:
"Beautiful," he said. "Beautiful."
「美」！他說。「很美」。