Country’s Oldest Juvenile Lifer Released After 68 Years In Prison

Joe Ligon, the oldest and longest-serving juvenile lifer in the United States, has been released after 68 years in prison.

Ligon was jailed in February 1953 when he was just 15-years-old. He was given a mandatory life sentence after pleading guilty to charges related to a Philadelphia stabbing spree with four other teenage boys, as well as robbery charges. His crimes left two men, Charles Pitts and Jackson Hamm, dead and six others wounded.

The now 83-year-old says that he got “caught up” in the streets, which led him to trouble with the law.

Ligon admitted to stabbing at least one of the eight people stabbed. However, his attorney Bradley Bridge maintains that his client never killed anyone.

“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 told CNN. “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.”

Bridge argued that a mandatory life sentence for a crime committed when Ligon was a teen was unconstitutional. After a failed hearing at the Pennsylvania intermediate appellate court, Bridge presented the case to the federal court, where he won the plea in November 2020. This granted Ligon freedom without having to be on parole.

“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.”

Ligon and his accomplices were given a clemency option in the 1970s. While the other two men accepted the offer, Ligon declined it because it meant that he would be on parole. In 2016, the courts ruled that juvenile life sentences without the possibility of parole were unlawful. This decision resentenced Ligon to 35 years to life, which made him eligible for parole since he had been incarcerated for over 60 years. However, he turned down the offer as well, once again objecting to parole. In 2017, he turned down another offer.

“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 explained. “He chose not to seek parole under those terms.”

With the help of John Pace, coordinator for the Philadelphia-based Youth Sentencing & Reentry Project, Bridge has begun helping Ligon with re-entering into society. They were able to find Ligon housing via domiciliary care, where he has been living with a Philadelphia family that has also played a role in his reentry process.

Ligon says that he is looking forward to helping people how so many have rallied to help him. When asked what it felt like to be back in the free world after all these years, he replied, “Beautiful.”