nearly five hundred people in Pennsylvania who have been condemned to mandatory life
imprisonment without parole for crimes they were accused of committing when they were
between the ages of thirteen and seventeen. It is the largest population of child offenders
condemned to die in prison in any single jurisdiction in the world.
In 1990 , Ian Manuel and two older boys attempted to rob a couple who were out for dinner
in Tampa, Florida. Ian was thirteen years old. When Debbie Baigre resisted, Ian shot her with
a handgun given to him by the older boys. The bullet went through Baigre’s cheek, shattering
several teeth and severely damaging her jaw. All three boys were arrested and charged with
armed robbery and attempted homicide.
Ian’s appointed lawyer encouraged him to plead guilty, assuring him that he would be
sentenced to fifteen years in prison. The lawyer didn’t realize that two of the charges against
Ian were punishable with sentences of life imprisonment without parole. The judge accepted
Ian’s plea and then sentenced him to life with no parole. Even though he was thirteen, the
judge condemned Ian for living in the streets, for not having good parental supervision, and
for his multiple prior arrests for shoplifting and minor property crimes. Ian was sent to an
adult prison—the Apalachee Correctional Institution, one of the toughest prisons in Florida.
The correctional staff at the prison processing center couldn’t find any uniforms that would fit
a boy Ian’s size, so they cut six inches from the bottom of their smallest pants. Juveniles
housed in adult prisons are five times more likely to be the victims of sexual assault, so the
staff at Apalachee put Ian, who was small for his age, in solitary confinement.
Solitary confinement at Apalachee means living in a concrete box the size of a walk-in
closet. You get your meals through a slot, you do not see other inmates, and you never touch
or get near another human being. If you “act out” by saying something insubordinate or
refusing to comply with an order given to you by a correctional officer, you are forced to
sleep on the concrete floor of your cell without a mattress. If you shout or scream, your time
in solitary is extended; if you hurt yourself by refusing to eat or mutilating your body, your
time in solitary is extended; if you complain to officers or say anything menacing or
inappropriate, your time in solitary is extended. You get three showers a week and are
allowed forty-five minutes in a small caged area for exercise a few times a week. Otherwise
you are alone, hidden away in your concrete box, week after week, month after month.
In solitary, Ian became a self-described “cutter”; he would take anything sharp on his food
tray to cut his wrists and arms just to watch himself bleed. His mental health unraveled, and
he attempted suicide several times. Each time he hurt himself or acted out, his time in
isolation was extended.
Ian spent eighteen years in uninterrupted solitary confinement.
Once a month, Ian was allowed to make a phone call. Soon after he arrived in prison, on
Christmas Eve in 1992 , he used his call to reach out to Debbie Baigre, the woman he shot.
When she answered the phone, Ian spilled out an emotional apology, expressing his deep
regret and remorse. Ms. Baigre was stunned to hear from the boy who had shot her, but she
was moved by his call. She had physically recovered from the shooting and was working to
become a successful bodybuilder and had started a magazine focused on women’s health. She
was a determined woman who didn’t let the shooting derail her from her goals. That first
surprising phone call led to a regular correspondence. Ian had been neglected by his family