WICHITA, Kan. (AP) A newspaper’s review of Kansas prison records has found 19 inmates serving life sentences for first-degree murder have been paroled over the past three years after spending an average of 23.8 years in custody.
The Wichita Eagle reports the paroled inmates range in age from 35 to 92 and were convicted of killing 21 people between 1979 and 1995.
Most were serving life sentences that made them eligible for parole after 15 years.
Wichita defense attorney Richard Ney says the state never intended the inmates to be locked away forever, and their release shows they have been rehabilitated.
The 19 paroled killers were among 221 inmates with first-degree murder convictions who went before the Kansas Parole Board or the Prisoner Review Board from January 2010 through September 2012.
