Some reasons to consider Pardoning Harry Bout

Some points from the Application for a Pardon or a Commutation, which was sent in to the Michigan Board of Pardons and Parole, by Humanity for Prisoners, on behalf of Harry Bout:

Regrets


In the Application for a Pardon or a Commutation, the petitioner (Humanity for Prisoners, a non profit organization based in Michigan) writes what Harry Bout has stated, namely that Mr Bout regrets that he did not call the police, and that he did not inform the family of the murder victim in his mother’s house in March of 1985. Since he has always denied murdering the victim, he can not regret what he did not do, but he feels responsible for the aftermath and not acting as he should have.

Burden for Michigan taxpayers

Harry Bout is 53 years of age, he has been in prison for 25 years. As a Dutch national, Harry Bout will be deported to The Netherlands if he should be pardoned or if he would ever be handed over to the Dutch authorities (there is a federal court deportation order). This will relieve the Michigan tax payers of a burden to keep a Dutch man in prison for the rest of his life. Especially when getting older, Mr Bout will be in more need of medical care. This will cost even more.

Lowest possible risk

Harry Bout has scored the lowest possible risk score on the Department of Corrections´ own standards for assessing a prisoners´ risk for violence, recidivism and failure to appear upon release (COMPAS test).

Support from The Netherlands´ Government

Harry Bout is a Dutch national. The ambassador of The Netherlands, a friend of Michigan and an ally of the United States, has written two letters directly to the Governor expressing their support for this application for Mr Bout´s pardon or commutation, and have expressed their willingness to accept Mr Bout back in their country (exhibit K in the application).

Support from many

Mr Bout´s pardon or commutation request is supported by many persons, both Dutch and from other countries. See amongst others the petition for support of his return, signed by 500 people, offered to the Commission for Foreign Affairs of the Dutch Parliament, 2007.

Family support in The Netherlands

If Mr Bout were pardoned, his family (cousin and her husband) in The Netherlands has expressed they will help him financially and with resettling in. Harry Bout speaks and understands the Dutch language well.

Governor, please commute the sentence of Life without Parole for Dutch citizen Harry Bout

Petition to: Governor Jennifer Granholm

Dear Governor Granholm,

The undersigned request that you make a serious consideration to commute the sentence of Life without Parole for Dutch citizen Mr Harry Bout (MI DOC # 180741), a prisoner in the State of Michigan since 25 years.

In 2008, the Kingdom of The Netherlands supported the last commutation request of Mr Bout on humanitarian grounds (see their letter of 2nd of April 2008), but the Parole Board of Michigan gave a negative advice, without mentioning any reason why it was denied. On their advice, you denied a commutation, even though a fellow country asked you to consider this.

We the undersigned hope that with the support of the Kingdom of The Netherlands, you will look into the case for commutation of Mr Harry Bout more closely, because then you will see that Mr Bout´s case for commutation does have merit: he has a network of people in Michigan, in the rest of the United States and in The Netherlands who support him and he has always been active in keeping contact with his homeland, he has a place to live with his family in Holland, and when he regains his freedom, he will be deported anyway to The Netherlands, where he will be able to work and contribute to Dutch society.

Mr Harry Bout has been in a Michigan prison since 1985, costing heavily on the Michigan tax payers´ costs, even though he has always denied having done what he was charged for. We are not discussing the question of wrongful conviction in this petition, but we want to state that 25 years is a very long time to be in prison for, and it costs a lot of money. If there is no possibility for commutation, Mr Bout will die in prison and he will never be able to work towards redemption and be rewarded for his efforts to do so, as there is no incentive anymore to do so. Prison is and remains a bad place for people to be redeemed, and commuting a sentence of Life Without Parole of Mr Bout will help him even more to becoming a redeemed, valued person again. He already has the network in place for eventual parole when that would be needed. We need your careful consideration, having done 25 years of a sentence to die in prison is according to us long enough, we agree that Harry Bout needs to receive a commutation of his sentence to Parolable Life.

Thank you for your consideration into this matter,

Please go here to sign the petition on Change.org, thank you.