“It’s such a tragedy; he has such a brilliant mind,” says my father, who recently served prison time in Florida alongside Todd Buchanan. He describes Buchanan as a very rare ray of light in prison, someone who offered kindness without strings attached.
But unless Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, gives Buchanan a second chance, no one outside prison will ever get to meet him. Buchanan is serving a 105-year sentence. With a release date in 2100, that means life without parole.
What precipitated such a long sentence?
Buchanan, or prisoner X80882 as he is listed in Florida Department of Corrections, didn’t kill anyone. But he did get very drunk. Then, he did something very stupid. It happened in September 2009 when Buchanan got chucked out of a bar. But instead of sleeping off the booze, Buchanan went home, grabbed a gun, and returned to the bar.
Then, he made the worst mistake of his life: He fired into the bar. Three innocent people were hit. Although not seriously wounded, those victims and the others endangered by Buchanan’s disregard necessitated a significant prison term.
At his sentencing in 2012, a notoriously tough Orange County judge, Marc Lubet, warned Buchanan that he faced life without parole if found guilty of two counts of aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and two counts of attempted negligent homicide. Lubet then offered Buchanan a plea deal of 30 years. Buchanan turned it down. Was this a mistake? Perhaps. But Buchanan was 32 years old at the time. He made a choice that 30 years in prison would effectively end his life. Considering the nature of Florida prisons, this was at least a reasonable assessment.
Regardless, when the jury returned a guilty verdict, Lubet gave Buchanan a 105-year sentence.
To some, that should end this story. But I believe Buchanan deserves another chance, just a chance, to lead a second life. My rationale is simple: He has more to offer society than perpetuity in prison.
In my correspondence with Buchanan, he writes of prison’s hardships, but also about the beauty of life. He adores the work of great people such as Mahatma Gandhi and Mother Teresa and great literature in the vein of Khaled Hosseini’s The Kite Runner. He speaks of small acts of kindness by prison staff that go a long way in making lives a little better. But what is most striking is Buchanan’s desperation to do better with whatever time he might have left.
When I asked him what he would do if he was ever released, Buchanan responded, “Help my mom and her husband. I’m terrified of being in here when they get too old to take care of themselves.”
I get that many will believe those words only an excuse to sound reformed. But I believe Buchanan.
That leads me back to Santis and his power to commute Buchanan’s sentence. Buchanan has shown through his writing and decency in exceptionally hard conditions that he can do more for society outside the wire than behind it. Justice demands he serve more time yet.
But DeSantis has moral cause to act to give Buchanan hope. Redemption is a sacred value. And DeSantis has already shown he recognizes that truth. Mark Inch, DeSantis’ Department of Corrections secretary, is in favor of reforming inmate lives to reduce their probability of re-offending.
There’s also a basic cost-benefit analysis here. With 81 years left on his sentence, and Florida’s average-per-prisoner detention cost of around $20,000 per year, Buchanan will cost Florida a real-terms minimum of more than $1.6 million.
Buchanan’s life is worth more than $1.6 million of taxpayer money and a lifetime in prison. He made a terrible mistake that he will keep paying for. But he deserves another chapter. A second chance.
Gov. DeSantis should give it to him.
