No Parole For Jonathan Pollard

Jonathan Pollard was convicted for passing classified information to Israel, a U.S. ally, with no intent to harm the U.S. Although he has been eligible for parole since approximately 1995, he has never applied for a parole hearing, according to Ron Olive the former head of counterintelligence in the Washington office of the Naval Investigative Service.

The reason is because under federal guidelines, a life sentence is approximately 30 years, meaning that Jonathan Pollard would be eligible for release in 2015. If Jonathan Pollard had requested a parole hearing he would have certainly been denied a hearing, and would have had to wait another 15 years until he could have requested a second parole hearing. Since he would have certainly been denied parole, a rejection would have only increased negative public opinion against him.

Since according to federal guidelines he should be released during this year, the question is what is holding the process back from taking place. Perhaps he is being used as a bargaining chip to restrain Israel from attacking Iran, or maybe the Obama administration will release him closer to the elections to boost the popularity of the Democratic Party.

It is incumbent upon those of good conscience to contact the White House and request the immediate release of Jonathan Pollard. The White House (202) 456-1111