By Brian Haas | The Tennessean
In the next 30 days, Gaile Owens will re-enter a much different world from the one she left behind in the 1980s. When she was convicted in 1986 and sentenced to die for hiring a man to kill her husband, the Internet was an obscure collection of research computers, cable television was largely a luxury and cellphones were heavier than bricks and the purview of only the wealthiest Americans. Life moves faster today. For 26 years, Owens has lived behind bars. Within one to three weeks, she will walk out of the Tennessee Prison for Women and ease back into freedom and there will be quite an adjustment period. "Everything is so very different. Colors, stuff that you just wouldn't expect. There are so many colors in the free world," said Ann Charvat, director of Reconciliation Inc., which reconnects inmates with their families. "I've known a lot of people who haven't been comfortable for a good long while even being in a room alone. When they return to the outside world, they're immersed in so many sensations." On Wednesday the Tennessee Board of Probation and Parole voted to free Owens. Her story, that of a woman physically, mentally and sexually abused and driven to hire a stranger to kill her husband in their Memphis home, drew widespread support for her cause. She was sentenced to death and both the Tennessee Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court rejected her appeals. Prominent Nashville residents, including singer/songwriter Marshall Chapman, former Tennessee Titans Coach Jeff Fisher and former Tennessean publisher and editor John Seigenthaler, rallied for her to be spared the death penalty and then for her to be released on parole. Those same supporters pledged their help if she were to be released. In July 2010, former Gov. Phil Bredesen commuted her sentence to life in prison, making her eligible for parole. The vote, 4-2 in favor of parole with a seventh vote not needed, came on the exact day that just a year ago she was scheduled to be put to death by lethal injection. Voting in her favor was Patsy Bruce, who heard Owens' plea at her Sept. 7 parole hearing, and board members Ronnie Cole, Joe Hill and Lisa Jones. Board Chairman Charles Traughber and board member Chuck Taylor voted to reject her parole. "This is a beautiful day for our family. I am grateful to the parole board for granting parole to my mother, Gaile Owens, after 26 years in prison," said Owens' son, Stephen Owens. "One year ago today was the date that mom was to be executed had Gov. Phil Bredesen not commuted her sentence. I will always be grateful to Gov. Bredesen, to my mother's legal team and to the thousands of friends and strangers who have rallied behind my mom and our family." Bredesen said he stands behind his decision and that the death penalty was not consistent with similar cases at the time. He said it also was unusual that a plea deal Owens was ready to accept years ago was retracted by prosecutors when her co-defendant rejected it. "What I really did in a sense to the best I could was reinstate that plea deal," Bredesen said. "I certainly hope that she gets her life together now. It sounds like she has a second chance." Abusive marriage
Owens, 59, said at her parole hearing that she endured emotional, physical and sexual abuse at the hands of her husband, Ron Owens. In 1984, Gaile Owens has said, after being humiliated and slapped in front of a woman her husband was cheating with, she decided to kill him. She scoured the streets of Memphis, offering $5,000 to $10,000 to anyone willing to act as a hit man. She found a man willing to do it, Sidney Porterfield, now 68. Porterfield went to the couple's West Tennessee home on Feb. 17, 1985, and struck Ron Owens 21 times with a tire iron. Gaile Owens was not home at the time. She and her two children arrived home later that night to find her husband bleeding and dying on their living room floor. He died a few hours later at the hospital. Details of the abuse she suffered at the hands of her husband never made it to her trial. She has said she wanted to spare her children from having to hear the details. Jurors, unaware of the abuse, decided she should be executed for her role in her husband's murder. Bredesen commuted her sentence last year, just months shy of her scheduled execution date. She was only the third death row inmate to have her sentence commuted in Tennessee since at least 1976, according to the Death Penalty Information Center. That she was paroled after just her first hearing also is unusual. During Owens' Sept. 7 parole hearing, board member Patsy Bruce told her it would be unusual for her to get released early on her first attempt. Offer of help
Bill Gupton, assistant commissioner for rehabilitative services at the Tennessee Department of Correction, said that most paroled inmates are released within 30 days of the order. Until then, corrections and parole officials will be preparing multiple reports to assess her post-prison life. Gupton said that first, a release plan must be made and approved with parole officials. This will include plans for possible employment and housing. Already one family, Pat and Eugene Williams, have agreed to let Owens into their home. At Owens' parole hearing, Pat Williams said that she met her 13 years ago while she worked as a religious volunteer at the prison. The two worked together for two hours a week for several years, prompting Pat Williams to offer a place to stay if she were ever released. "And I and my husband do not take this lightly, the responsibility of having Gaile come to live with us," she said at the hearing. "We've never done this before, but we're committing to her." And then there are the other needs. Gupton said that there will be counselors available to help her determine what mental health, career or medical needs she might have upon release. Once her plans are fully approved by parole officials, she will fill out her last paperwork, turn in her prison uniform and walk free. Readjustment can be difficult Owens will have support. Already, The Next Door, a nonprofit program that helps women re-enter society after being imprisoned, has been working to help her with counseling and career services. Cindy Sneed, who oversees client services there, said employment in particular is an important part of resuming life outside of prison. Sneed said it will be a tough journey for Owens. "I think the adjustment leaving incarceration and entering the community is significant," she said. "You're told where to go and what time to do it. You don't have the right to make a lot of choices inside of the prison. Even adjusting to a different kind of schedule, being able to wear the clothes you want to wear." She recalled a woman who left prison after 15 years and for the first time rode in a car that automatically locked the doors. "It scared her to death," she said. "Automatic locks haven't been around that long." But as difficult as life may or may not be for Owens, Sneed said she hopes her story will be one of redemption and inspiration for women who are in abusive situations. "I think for a lot of women who are survivors of domestic violence and women who are re-entering society, she is going to be a real inspiration," Sneed said. "She brings a lot of hope." />
Life of freedom awaits Gaile Owens
