A U.S. Bureau of Prisons website listing for Jonathan Pollard’s release date appeared for several days as “life” until it reverted back to Nov. 21, 2015, when the former Navy analyst is first eligible for parole.
The listing appeared as life on the bureau’s “find an inmate” search engine until Oct. 6, when it reverted to November 2015. Pollard, who was sentenced to life for spying for Israel, is eligible for parole under sentencing guidelines in 1987.
Ed Ross, a prisons bureau spokesman, said both changes were “administrative,” in the sense that Pollard’s status had not changed. But he added that he did not know if either decision — to change the listing to life and then back again — was in error.
Being eligible for parole does not mean Pollard will be released. His advocates say parole is unlikely because the government continues to deny Pollard access to classified documents that could make his case.
Pollard’s wife, Esther, said she and her husband preferred the life listing because the 2015 date gives a false impression that has mitigated against public pressure on President Barack Obama to commute Pollard’s sentence. — jta