He was the only man sentenced to life without parole in Missouri for marijuana charges under a persistent offender sentencing law from the 1990’s that has since been changed.
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According to the Free Jeff Mizanskey Facebook page, he was both appreciative and overwhelmed by the public support.
This morning, Jeff Mizanskey was informed by the staff of the Missouri Department of Corrections that his application for parole has been granted.
Following a parole hearing last Thursday at the Jefferson City Correctional Center, the Parole Board indicated it might be six to eight weeks before a decision was reached.
He was arrested during an undercover drug bust in Sedalia in 1993. For non-violent, marijuana-only offenses, my father has been sentenced to die in prison because of a “three strikes” mandatory sentencing policy in the State of Missouri. He admitted selling an ounce of pot in 1984 and to having more in his home, and acknowledged possessing 2-3 ounces at home after a 1991 search. My dad was driving a friend to a deal that turned out to be a sting operation.
KMBC 9 News first put Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon on the record about Mizanskey’s case in February.
All three of Mizanskey’s nonviolent offenses involved the possession of cannabis. While black and white Americans use marijuana at about the same rates, blacks were almost four times more likely than whites to be arrested for marijuana during the years examined. In 1980, there were roughly 40,000 drug offenders in federal and state prisons and jails, according to research from the Sentencing Project, a criminal justice reform group.
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After spending a third of his life behind bars, Jeff Mizanskey was finally granted parole.
