Willie Simmons Has Spent 38 Years In An Alabama Prison After Stealing $9 In 1982
Willie Simmons, a 62-year-old Alabama man, has spent 38 years behind bars after being sentenced to life without parole for a robbery involving just $9.
Simmons was 25 years old when he was convicted of first-degree robbery in 1982. Because of three previous convictions, he was sentenced under Alabama’s Habitual Offender law, which resulted in a life-without-parole sentence.
An Army veteran, Simmons became dependent on drugs while stationed overseas. He has never denied the robbery, admitting that he was under the influence when he took a wallet containing $9, describing the incident as a desperate moment..
Since his sister died in 2006, Simmons has reportedly not had a single visitor.
Now 62, he remains incarcerated in a facility considered one of the toughest prison environments in the United States. Despite spending most of his adult life behind bars, he continues studying for his GED and remains focused on improving himself.
His case has raised difficult questions about habitual-offender sentencing and the extent to which decades-old convictions should determine a person’s fate for the rest of their life.
After 38 years in prison, Simmons continues to hold on to hope and the determination to grow, even under some of the hardest circumstances imaginable.