Seven years ago, a newspaper clipping posted on a bulletin board caught Terrell Robinson’s attention. It was a Post-Dispatch article written by my colleague Jesse Bogan about a lawsuit against the Missouri Department of Corrections.
The lawsuit, filed by the nonprofit , alleged that the parole revocation process in Missouri was a “sham†that violated the civil rights of people sent back to prison without legal counsel, hearings or proper notice of their alleged violation.
Robinson, who had been back in prison for nearly eight years after his parole was revoked, had a revelation after reading the article. The same thing had happened to him. He just didn’t realize how clearly his rights had been violated.
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“I read it and thought God was sending me a sign,†Robinson told me on the phone this week from the Eastern Reception, Diagnostic and Correctional Center in Bonne Terre. “I had no understanding whatsoever that my due process rights had been violated. No one ever said anything to me about having a right to an attorney.â€
Among the conditions of parole the state claims Robinson violated was “drugs.†He knew he had tested positive for marijuana during his time out of prison but had discussed it with his parole officer and enrolled in a substance abuse program. According to his attorneys, the state never gave Robinson a full accounting of why they were sending him back to prison.
Robinson is still in prison, but the MacArthur Justice Center eventually won its lawsuit and forced reform of the Missouri probation and parole system. The attorneys now represent Robinson. And earlier this month, Amy Breihan, Megan Crane and Shubra Ohri filed a petition with the Missouri Supreme Court seeking Robinson’s freedom.
“The revocation process, from start to finish, was riddled with due process violations,†they wrote. “Mr. Robinson never received written notice of his alleged parole condition violations at any time during the revocation process. He never received the Field Violation Reports recommending parole revocation, much less the underlying police reports or other evidence of alleged parole violations … the (parole board) revoked Mr. Robinson’s parole without a hearing and without explanation.â€
Robinson is far from alone. of the men and women in Missouri prisons are there on probation or parole violations, a rate that is among the highest in the nation. While that can happen when someone commits a new crime, it wasn’t the case for Robinson — and it isn’t the case for about half of the new admissions to Missouri prisons each year.
Technical violations can result from missing a meeting with a parole officer, violating a prohibition against drug or alcohol use, or failing to make some of the myriad financial obligations often placed on parolees, such as paying for an ankle monitor or drug testing.
Since the MacArthur Justice Center won its lawsuit, the Missouri Department of Corrections has changed many of its practices. In fact, the state describes its attempts to reduce the number of people in prisons on parole revocations, in part because housing so many alleged violators costs taxpayers more than $74 million a year.
But the changes were of no help to Robinson. He first ended up in prison when he was 17, in 1988. Robinson, a former Golden Gloves boxer, and other teenagers robbed a coin-operated laundry in St. Louis. A police officer, Jeffry Kowalski, happened upon them and gave chase. One of the teens — Robinson maintains it wasn’t him — fired a gun. Kowalski was injured. Robinson was sentenced to 50 years in prison. He served about 17 before he was paroled.
In the meantime, Kowalski died of cancer in 2008, after he had retired. A year later, the Board of Police Commissioners classified his death as “in the line of duty.†That’s the year Robinson was picked up by police and accused of a parole violation. He’s been back in prison ever since. Kowalski’s widow has opposed his release.
The problem is the Department of Corrections put him back in prison without due process, Breihan says, which was common in 2009.
The state hasn’t disputed many of the facts in Robinson’s petition but has argued that he waited too long to file it. Some of the records related to his alleged parole violation have since been destroyed. Breihan filed a similar petition in St. Francois County in 2022, when I first wrote about Robinson’s case, and it was denied by a judge, who didn’t make a ruling on the due process arguments.
Robinson hopes the Missouri Supreme Court takes the time to listen to his plea. Breihan says that when Robinson got out of prison, “he was doing what he was supposed to be doing. It’s a challenging thing to transition from prison to the free world, especially when you went in as a teenager.â€
He’s been back in prison for another 15 years, nearly as long as his first stay. He still doesn’t know exactly why.
“Nobody is willing to give me an actual answer as to why I am here and how I violated my parole,†Robinson says. “It’s like I’m here and no one is listening.â€