Parole Hearings

Lisa Newman-Polk represents people serving life sentences at hearings before the Massachusetts Parole Board, advocating for their release back into the community. She is one of a small number of attorneys specializing in representing individuals before the Board who were convicted of first or second-degree murder as adolescents. In addition to providing legal representation, she uses her experience as a clinical social worker to better serve and collaborate with her clients. Lisa understands the unique challenges people face during decades of incarceration and in the transition back into the community. In her representation, she contextualizes her clients’ criminal conduct and progress towards rehabilitation. In helping her clients prepare to see the Board, she reviews institutional records, court records, and most importantly, engages in hours of conversations with her clients, as well as their families and friends.

As a former mental health clinician in the Department of Correction, Lisa has an appreciation for her clients' life stories and understands that people who are incarcerated are frequently survivors of traumatic childhoods scarred by chaos, neglect, and violence, as well as systemic racism and oppression. She recognizes that prisons are designed to punish through deprivation and dehumanization and therefore an individual’s mind and body need to heal after serving decades in prison. To this end, she begins working with her clients on self-development and efforts to heal long before they see the Parole Board. In short, Lisa’s goal is for her clients to achieve parole, and also to succeed holistically in their lives.