New Jersey man kills mother 2 days after completing 30-year prison sentence  

A New Jersey man pleaded guilty Wednesday to killing his mother just two days after finishing a 30-year prison sentence for killing his next door neighbour.

Steven Pratt pleaded guilty to manslaughter for the October 2014 killing of his 64-year-old mother, Gwendolyn Pratt, in their Atlantic City home.

The Press of Atlantic City reported an autopsy revealed she died from massive blunt-force head injuries.

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On Oct. 11, 1984 Pratt was just 15 when he fatally shot his neighbour, Michael Anderson, after getting into an argument.

According to court records Anderson, who had acted like Pratt’s “father” on occasion, had argued with Pratt and some of his friends after they refused to leave an apartment hallway where they were noisily hanging out and smoking marijuana.

An angered Pratt retrieved a lead pipe from his home and went to Anderson’s apartment. During an ensuing struggle Anderson took the pipe away from Pratt and leaving his face bloodied, the records show.

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Pratt later returned with a handgun and shot Anderson in the face and shoulder. He died in hospital days after the shooting.

A New Jersey psychologist questioned why Pratt was not placed into a juvenile system meant to rehabilitate troubled children rather than an adult prison system.

“If you evaluate somebody at a young age, you can get a pretty good idea of the probability whether they can be rehabilitated,” Ronald Gruen told the The Press of Atlantic City. “In adult prison, there’s really no significant rehabilitation. They mark time, they fight. It’s not conducive to saving a person.”

Pratt said he did not want a trial in a 2014 arraignment hearing following the murder.

“I don’t want a trial. I’m guilty,” Pratt told a judge. “I have failed.”

Pratt, 47, will have to serve 85 per cent of a 25-year prison sentence before he’ll be eligible for parole.

A 2014 U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics report found roughly 68 per cent of released prisoners were arrested again within three years, and 77 per cent within five years. Among prisoners 24 and younger just over 84 per cent were arrested within five years upon their release.

In Canada, the re-conviction rate of federal prisoners released in the first year was 44 per cent with the re-conviction rate for violent offenders at 14 per cent, according to a report from Public Safety Canada. The report found the non-violent re-conviction rate was 30 per cent with that rate decreasing each successive year following their release.