My father Jeff Mizanskey has been in prison for 20 years and has no possibility of parole. For non-violent, marijuana-only offenses, my father has been sentenced to die in prison because of a "three strikes" mandatory sentencing policy in the State of Missouri. 
 
 Dad's first offense was in 1984 when he sold an ounce to an undercover informant, and then was found to possess a half pound of marijuana when police raided his house the next day. His next offense occurred in 1991, when he was caught in possession of a couple of ounces. But for my father's final strike in 1993, he became an easy fall guy in a conspiracy to distribute marijuana. My dad was driving a friend to a deal that turned out to be a sting operation. All of the other convicted men involved were set free years ago, but my dad was given a virtual death sentence. 
 
 My dad is, and always has been, a good man. He taught my brother and I all about construction and a good work ethic. He has never been violent and he is a model prisoner. And over the 20 years he has been in that little cell, he has watched as violent criminals, rapists, and murderers have "paid their debts" and left - sometimes just to return a few months later. 
 
 My father is 61 years old, and has been in prison since he was 41. His parents - my grandparents - have since passed. While my dad has been trapped behind bars, generations of kids and grandkids have been born into our family who have never even met the man. The State of Missouri spends roughly $22,000/year to keep him locked up. Meanwhile all my dad wants to do is be a productive part of society, work and pay taxes, be with his family. And I want my dad back. 
 
 Governor Jay Nixon is the only person who has the power to bring my dad home by granting clemency to Jeff and calling 20 years punishment enough. Please help us reach a just and reasonable end to his prison sentence by signing and sharing this petition. 

 JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. - 
 
 Jeff Mizanskey has had the lone status of being the only man in Missouri serving life in prison - without parole - for non-violent marijuana offenses. 
 
 After more than two decades in maximum security prison, that changed when Governor Jay Nixon commuted Mizanskey's sentence. 
 
 The Governor's decision doesn't free Mizanskey, but allows for a parole hearing. 
 
 Before the Governor's action, Mizanskey would never leave a Missouri prison alive. 
 
 With this new development, I returned to the Jefferson City Correctional Center to talk to Jeff Mizanskey about his renewed hope for freedom. 
 
 Mizanskey's parole hearing is set for August 6. His attorney, Dan Viets tells me he'll make the parole board aware of the hundreds of thousands of signatures to free Mizanskey -- along with a petition for the same thing from nearly 150 members of the Missouri General Assembly. 
 
 If you're interested in weighing in on Jeff Mizanskey's parole, you can email the board at: probation.parole@doc.mo.gov 
 
 You can also post to: 
 
 Attention Missouri Board of Probation and Parole 
 
 3400 Knipp Drive 
 
 Jefferson City, MO 65109 

 Jeff Mizanskey is among the handful of Americans serving life in prison for nonviolent marijuana crimes. Free Jeff Mizanskey/Facebook 
 
 Jeff Mizanskey has served almost two decades of a life sentence since being nabbed in a marijuana-buying sting in the early 1990s. This week, he will have his first parole hearing, thanks to a limited commutation given by Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon following intense public pressure. 
 
 Many believe his sentence is an injustice, and earlier this year more than two-thirds of Missouri state legislators and nearly 400,000 online supporters urged the Democratic governor to use his executive authority to free Mizanskey, a nonviolent offender ensnared by the state's three-strikes law. 
 
 Rather than a pardon or commutation to time served, Nixon, formerly a tough-on-crime state attorney general, in May made Mizanskey eligible for parole, which his original sentence did not allow. “[M]y action provides Jeff Mizanskey with the opportunity to demonstrate that he deserves parole,�? he said. 
 
 Mizanskey, 62, goes before the state parole board on Thursday to make his case. 
 
 “I opened my mouth and said something to the right people, basically," says his son Chris Mizanskey, creator of the successful online petition, who credits the advocacy group Show-Me Cannabis with making his father's cause a national news item. 
 
 “The times are changing all over the United States," he says. "Everywhere people are starting to feel the same way: They’re realizing it’s a victimless crime and it’s way less harmful than alcohol is.�? 
 
 The parole board deliberations will be cloaked in secrecy. “Parole hearings are closed pursuant to state law,�? says Missouri Department of Corrections spokesman David Owen. Parole records, too, are closed, he says. 
 
 That means there will be no publicly released vote count or minutes from the hearing or subsequent meetings. The board currently has six members appointed by the governor to six-year terms, and it has a heavy load. It convened 9,797 parole hearings in 2013, more than 800 a month. 
 
 Attorney Dan Viets will represent Mizanskey at the hearing. “It’s not a sure thing, but I’m optimistic and I think everyone who’s familiar with the system is optimistic,�? he says. 
 
 Viets says the hearing likely will feature three board members, who may or may not ask questions and probably will not issue a ruling right away. 
 
 He plans to make the case that Mizanskey has been a model prisoner, spending some of his time teaching furniture-making to other inmates, and will point out the state law allowing life without parole for repeat nonviolent drug offenders is repealed, effective in 2017. 
 
 He also will present the letter state lawmakers sent to Nixon. “I dare say there’s never been a prisoner who’s had a letter of support from 140 [of 197] members of the legislature,�? Viets says. 
 
 Reconsideration of Mizanskey’s case – one of only a few that features a life sentence for a nonviolent marijuana offense – comes as the Obama administration scans the federal prison population for inmates given harsh terms for nonviolent drug crimes. Last month, the president ordered the release of 46 such prisoners, almost all imprisoned for crack cocaine. 
 
 Mizanskey has been in custody since 1993, when he was arrested and later convicted of aiding and abetting possession with intent to distribute 7 pounds of marijuana. He previously pleaded guilty in 1984 to selling an ounce and keeping more at his home and in 1991 to keeping between 2 and 3 ounces in his home – for which he received probation. 
 
 The younger Mizanskey, who works construction and until recently owned a bar, was in his teens when his father was arrested for the final time. He dropped out of high school shortly after and says he had to grow up quickly. 
 
 “Man, I tell you what: I’m excited and I’m nervous all at the same time,�? he says. “He’s been there for a long time, and I’d hate for them to tell him 'no' and send him back. But I strongly feel in my heart he’s going to get out of there." 
 
 “There are so many people that see the injustice in it, I don’t feel they’d want to [say no],�? he adds. 
 
 Mizanskey says his father always has been hardworking. As an apartment building manager he’d often work seven days a week into the wee hours of the morning, he recalls. “He just wants to get out and go back to work, earn a paycheck and live his life.�? 
 
 Post-prison plans, his son says, include opening a wood shop and helping mentor at-risk young people. He’s also received a gush of speaking requests from supporters of marijuana reform. 
 
 “He feels the same as me and a million other folks in Missouri that marijuana should be legalized and taxed,�? his son says. 
 
 In truth, there’s probably more than a million legalization supporters in the state. 
 
 Show-Me Cannabis recently commissioned a poll to gauge support in Missouri for legalization of medical and recreational marijuana use. 
 
 The poll results have not yet been released, but the group's executive director, John Payne, says it found 47 percent support legalization for recreational use, with a much higher support for medical use. 
 
 The group plans to launch a 2016 medical marijuana ballot push. A ballot initiative that would add Missouri to the growing number of states that allow possession and regulate recreational sales of marijuana probably is a few years down the road. 
 
 Payne says Show-Me Cannabis' activism for Mizanskey will resume if there’s an unfavorable parole board ruling. “I think people would be kind of outraged,�? he says. “It would feel like a bit of a bait and switch by the state government.�? 
 
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 Nixon’s office is remaining publicly neutral ahead of the hearing. Asked if he favors parole, the governor’s press secretary Scott Holste says “that is a decision for the Board of Probation and Parole.�? 
 
 Holste says the governor decided to commute the sentence to life with the possibility of parole rather than more drastic action like a pardon because “after an exhaustive review … [he] believed that a commutation of Mizanskey’s sentence was the appropriate course of action.�?
– As of this year, Jeff Mizanskey, 62, was two decades into a life sentence "without the possibility of parole" for nonviolent marijuana offenses—something so rare there was no one like him in Missouri and only a handful across the US. Then, after a highly publicized campaign led by his son to get his sentence commuted, Gov. Jay Nixon decided in May to change the sentence to life with the possibility of parole, and the man's first parole hearing is set for Thursday, reports US News & World Report. More than two-thirds of state legislators and some 400,000 online supporters have backed the release of Mizanskey, with commenters on Change.org overwhelmingly expressing the sentiment that "enough is enough." His son writes: "Over the 20 years he has been in that little cell, he has watched as violent criminals, rapists, and murderers have 'paid their debts' and left—sometimes just to return a few months later." Still, Mizanskey remains cautious. "Parole is a privilege, not a right," he tells ABC News. When asked about his family, though, he gets choked up: "I'm 62. You want this for yourself. My parents died. My family's growed up. I've got grandkids, great grandkids. A lot of 'em I've never even seen." After having been arrested twice for pot-related offenses (selling an ounce in 1984; having 2-3 ounces at home in 1991), Mizanskey was arrested for the last time in 1993 and convicted of possession with intent to distribute seven pounds of marijuana. Mizanskey's attorney says the sentence is "cruel" and, "thank goodness, it's relatively unusual," and adds that the governor’s move sends a "strong signal" to the parole board that freedom is appropriate. (See what this woman did to get life without parole.)