Author

Fred Clasen-Kelly

Fred Clasen-Kelly, Senior Correspondent, reports enterprise and investigative articles focused on the South from his base in Charlotte, North Carolina. Previously, he wrote about housing, racial inequality, and social justice in the Carolinas, Georgia, and Virginia for the USA Today Network and was on The Charlotte Observer’s investigation team. Clasen-Kelly started his career at his hometown newspaper, The Saginaw News, in Michigan, and later moved to The Indianapolis Star, covering law enforcement, courts, and local government. His work has been recognized with a Sigma Delta Chi award for public service journalism, the Annie E. Casey Medal, a Green Eyeshade Award, and other honors. He is a graduate of Central Michigan University.

Jimmy Dee Stout had served about half of his 15-year sentence for a drug conviction when he was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer last year. He learned about compassionate release from another prisoner, and was released last October with help from Families Against Mandatory Minimums. Stout now lives with his brother in Round Rock, Texas. (Julia Robinson for KHN)

A law was meant to free sick or aging inmates. Instead, some are left to die in prison

By: Fred Clasen-Kelly - February 28, 2023

Jimmy Dee Stout was serving time on drug charges when he got grim news early last year. Doctors told Stout, now 62, the sharp pain and congestion in his chest were caused by stage 4 lung cancer, a terminal condition. “I’m holding on, but I would like to die at home,” he told the courts […]

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