US civil rights groups file complaint against ‘death by incarceration’ to UN

The filing urges UN special rapporteurs to declare life sentences, including without parole, a violation of incarcerated people's rights

The moment Terrell Carter learned the death sentence he received decades ago would end, he was filled with extreme happiness and intense sorrow.

Carter had spent 30 years of his life in prison without parole for second-degree murder he committed in Pennsylvania, one of six states in the US where there is no possibility of parole when sentenced to life. In July, after Governor Tom Wolf commuted his sentence, Carter, now 53, regained his freedom after a nearly three-year process petitioning with the state board of pardons. Still, he said he felt survivor's guilt".