Brandon Brown is not asking for a reward, he’s requesting an opportunity.
Brown, who has been in the Maine prison system for over a decade, has set a series of firsts while on the inside. Last year, he became the first incarcerated person in Maine to earn a master’s degree, graduating with a stellar grade point average. That came after Brown also earned an associate’s degree and bachelor’s degree while in prison.
Brown then became the first person in the state prison system to enroll into a PhD program when he was accepted last year at George Mason University to study restorative justice through the lens of conflict analysis and resolution with an emphasis on how narratives are formed through the criminal justice system. Brown has completed one year of the program.
Pointing to that set of accomplishments and additional contributions — such as mentoring others in prison — supporters earlier this month once again asked Gov. Janet Mills to grant Brown executive clemency. They argued that approving the request would facilitate Brown’s studies at George Mason by allowing him to attend classes in-person and would provide hope to those in the prison system looking to pursue education and other rehabilitative programming.
Brown’s initial request for clemency was denied by Mills last year without any public explanation. His effort has received support from a wide range of people, including the victim of his crime, a state lawmaker, professors at George Mason and many others.
Sentenced in 2010 to 17 years in prison for a shooting that left a man partially paralyzed, Brown said in an interview this week that he’s requesting clemency for the chance to show that he, and others who are incarcerated, have the ability to change.
Brandon Brown and his family | Courtesy Mark Brown
“It’s really just about an opportunity to prove to people that I’m not the kid that I was, and that I am the student I’ve become, that I am the advocate that I’ve become,” he said. “I believe in the capacity for me to make a difference in the world in a really positive way. That’s all I’m asking for a chance to do because it’s so hard to do that from this seat I’m in now.”
Brown readily admits that the odds are against him. Mills, a conservative Democrat and a former attorney general and prosecutor, rejected his first request and during this year’s legislative session objected to a number of efforts to reform the state’s criminal legal system, including a bill to close Maine’s last youth prison. In addition, commutations of sentences in Maine have historically been extremely rare.
Mills’ office did not respond to a request for comment.
Despite those challenges, Brown said he wanted to try for clemency again because he has done everything he can in prison to better himself and believes that remaining in that environment would only stagnate his growth. Without clemency, Brown — who resides at the Bolduc Correctional Facility in Warren — said his earliest release from custody is September of 2023. Starting in October, though, he is eligible for supervised community confinement, which would mean he could serve his remaining sentence from home but would only be allowed to go to pre-approved places.
Brown added that a fulfilment of the request could also show others in the Maine prison system that rehabilitative work will be recognized.
Currently, the long odds those in prison face for clemency requests combined with the lack of a parole system in Maine mean many who are incarcerated feel “there’s no hope that doing things to better yourself will pay off in any meaningful way,” Brown said. A bill to reinstate parole, sponsored by Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos (I-Friendship) — who submitted the clemency request for Brown to the governor — failed in the state Senate this session after many Democrats joined Republicans to vote it down; however, a measure to form a commission to study reestablishing parole has been advanced to Mills’ desk.
“It would be a recognition that if we have a system in place with the commutation process that’s used for the right reasons in the right ways, it will instill hope into people in prison,” Brown said of the effect of a successful clemency request. “And will instill hope into society that there are opportunities to genuinely better ourselves.”
‘I’m hoping’
In a clemency request letter to Mills, Evangelos emphasized the long list of activities Brown has been involved in while incarcerated, including participating in a dog training program, serving in the prison system’s hospice program and working at the Maine State Prison Showroom.
Evangelos also wrote that Brown’s sentence was far too harsh, especially given that lighter sentences have been administered in shooting cases where someone died and that Brown’s victim, James Sanders, supports his clemency request. Evangelos said in the letter that during a confirmation hearing earlier this year, Mills’ nominee for District Court Judge, Sarah Churchill — who was Brown’s lawyer in 2010 — told him that Brown’s harsh sentence was the result of “human error.”
Given that and Brown’s growth through the years, Evangelos argued clemency is warranted.
“None of us can change the past, no matter how hard we try,” the letter reads. “All we can do is to make better decisions and dedicate ourselves to a better life. As the saying goes, it’s not just the mistake one makes, but what one does after that matters. On that score, we the undersigned are asking you to give Brandon a second chance and allow him to join his classmates in Virginia for this fall’s semester.”
The letter is signed by Evangelos, Brown, Brown’s dad, a number of professors and university officials as well as Natasha Irving, who serves as the district attorney for Knox, Lincoln and Waldo counties.
Rep. Jeffrey Evangelos speaks at an event in April | Beacon
Evangelos said in an interview this week that Brown’s case cuts to the core of the debate over the purpose of the Maine prison system.
“We have to come to grips in Maine with whether we’re going to run the department of punishment and incarceration or whether we’re running a department of corrections and rehabilitation,” Evangelos said. “And right now we’re running a department of punishment.”
“I’m hoping,” he said of whether Mills will grant the request. “Because this is about whether we’re going to kill hope or set a better tone in our criminal justice system.”
Brown’s petition also features letters of support from Thomas Flores, director of graduate studies at the Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter School for Peace and Reconciliation at George Mason University; Charisse M. Cardenas, Brown’s academic advisor at George Mason; Deborah Meehan, executive director of the UMA Rockland Center; and Ellen Taylor, a professor at the University of Maine at Augusta.
In his letter, Flores wrote that Brown has received high marks for his work and shown “a superb capacity to think creatively on questions of the narratives we use when we consider questions of crime and justice.” However, Flores said it will be difficult for Brown to continue his work remotely, as the school is returning to in-person learning that was scrapped during the pandemic. Flores added that Brown is entering a phase of his program that will require intensive study and online access along with the freedom to do independent research, all of which will be “nearly impossible” if he remains incarcerated.
“I beg you to grant Mr. Brandon Brown clemency so he can continue his studies with us,” Flores wrote to Mills. “If released, he will offer so much to society. If he remains incarcerated for his full term, we’ll all lose out on his extraordinary gifts. Please allow him to continue on his path.”
In her letter, Taylor reflected on having taught Brown in a class in the Maine prison system, saying his thirst for knowledge and empathy for others were extraordinary.
“I appeal to Governor Mills, her intellect and empathy, to grant clemency to Brandon, to allow him to continue his studies unfettered, to return to society, and become a valued member of our community,” Taylor wrote. “This is an opportunity to showcase Maine’s efforts to reshape its criminal justice system, to show that we acknowledge the transformative power of education, and the possibilities of personal renewal.”
‘The poster child for rehabilitation’
During his first clemency request, Brown said he got his hopes up that it would be approved. However, the experience of being denied last year reinforced for Brown that “it is kind of reckless to have hope for an outcome” while incarcerated.
Mark Brown, Brandon’s dad, said the request last year featured at least 35 letters in favor of clemency, with 200 people coming to support Brown at the hearing. Only three of Sanders’ aunts opposed clemency, he said.
Mark Brown said his son has done everything he can to turn his life around, arguing that it’s time those efforts are recognized.
“He’s the poster child for rehabilitation,” he said. “He’s done more than anybody has ever done in the history of the state, both in terms of education and other things he’s been involved with.”
Brown added that the issue is bigger than just his case, explaining that many others serving long prison sentences have done all they can within the prison system to better themselves.
“That’s what I hope people consider,” Brown said. “That there is a possibility that you can become a genuinely good, productive person in prison, but with that needs to come the opportunity to transition out and continue on that path of being a good, productive person outside of prison.”
Top photo: Brandon Brown speaks at one of his graduation ceremonies | Courtesy Mark Brown
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