Harold Cunningham was imprisoned up more than three decades ago and told he would never be released after committing a string of armed robberies and murders. On Friday, he stood in a courtroom again, but not in connection with his case. Cunningham and a dozen other Washington, D.C., inmates had gathered to do something unusual: debate in a federal courtroom against four students from James Madison University. Cunningham, who was in jail to await a posttrial motion, argued for the abolition of life sentences without parole. “All Americans should stand for rehabilitation, not retribution,” he said. Five ceremonial judges — federal jurists as well as leaders from the Justice Department and Georgetown University’s law school — would decide the winner, the Washington Post reports.
The 13 members of the jail team began prepping more than two months ago, when they had their first debate class. “It’s indescribable really — I’ve never had an experience like this,” said Dante Gardner, 34. “Any time I go into a courtroom, it’s to go in front of a judge for a different purpose. This will shed light on an issue I care deeply about.” Gardner, who faces charges related to a burglary, has been in jail for six months. Before signing up for the class, he felt purposeless inside his cell. Now he had a higher calling. He hoped to convince not only the debate judges but policymakers and the public that life without parole is immoral and wrong. That it should be abolished. That people like Cunningham deserve a second chance. “When people are incarcerated, they often only come to court for punitive reasons,” said Victoria Sheber, one of the coaches. “We wanted to destigmatize the courtroom.” Instead of appearing in orange jumpsuits, the debaters wore shirts and khaki pants. The James Madison students came to the stand with laptops and digital timers. The D.C. jail team, lacking the same technology as their counterparts, brought loose papers and handwritten notes. The students argued that life without parole, or LWOP, should not be abolished, but rather reserved for the most violent offenders who had committed first-degree murder. the judges deliberated for less than 10 minutes and announced the winner: the team from the jail.
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