Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsHolding hands with her weeping daughter Janelle Elrod of Colorado Springs, Robin Farris, left, walks out of the Denver Women’s Correctional Facility on April 4, 2023. Convicted of murdering her former lover Beatrice King in February 1990, Farris was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole for at least 40 years. Just before Christmas last year, Gov. Jared Polis gave her a shot at parole about eight years early.
"You're beautiful, beautiful!" Robin Farris declared to her weeping daughter Janelle as the two, overcome by emotion, freely embraced for the first time since Janelle, now a mother herself, was a child.
The setting was the waiting area at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility, and Farris was free on parole about eight years sooner than she, her family and her friends had expected.
Convicted of murdering her former lover Beatrice King in February 1990, Farris was sentenced to life in prison with no chance for parole for at least 40 years.
But just before Christmas last year, Farris was among 24 people to whom Gov. Jared Polis granted some form of clemency.
Polis granted her a commutation after her lawyers, Kristen Nelson, and Risa Wolf-Smith, argued in their application that Farris had been an exemplary prisoner who used her time behind bars to help and counsel other inmates, to get a college degree, and to learn to be a counselor, which took about 2,000 hours. Women who were incarcerated with Farris, and have already been released, talked about the value of the emotional support they received from her, as well.
"Under very difficult circumstances, she managed to grow, change, and heal herself," Nelson and Risa Wolf-Smith said in a statement. Added Farris, "Words cannot describe how happy I am to be reunited with my family."
Farris's family said one of the first places they intended to go was a store to get her some new clothes. Snow was falling outside the prison when they walked into the daylight, with her grandson Dominic carrying the cardboard box that contains all of Farris’s possessions from prison.
Here's what the morning looked like for Robin Farris:
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRobin Farris, holding a box and envelope containing all her life’s possessions, waits for security doors to open at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility on April 4, 2023.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRobin Farris, waves to family and friends while signing out of the Denver Women's Correctional Facility on April 4, 2023. Convicted of murdering her former lover Beatrice King in February 1990, she was being released on parole about eight years early.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsA prison ID card and a cardboard box and envelope containing all of Robin Farris’s possessions, in the waiting area at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility on April 4, 2023.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRobin Farris, center, smiles for a selfie with the two attorneys who worked for her release from prison at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility on April 4, 2023. At left, Kristen Nelson, and Risa Wolf-Smith.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRobin Farris is overcome with emotion after being released.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR News“You are beautiful, beautiful!” Robin Farris, at right, declares to her daughter Janelle Elrod of Colorado Springs, as Janelle cries in delight at finally being able to see and hold her mother in person after more than 30 years.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsRobin Farris holds her weeping daughter Janelle Elrod in the waiting area of at the Denver Women's Correctional Facility on April 4, 2023.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsAttorney Risa Wolf-Smith embraces an overcome Janelle Elrod, as Elrod’s mother Robin Farris, behind at right, is released on parole about eight years early from the Denver Women's Correctional Facility on April 4, 2023.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsAs attorney Kristen Nelson, right, looks on, Janelle Elrod shrieks in delight at the sight of her mother Robin Farris being released from prison.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsJanelle Elrod wipes tears from her eyes as she and her mother Robin Farris, left, walk out of the Denver Women's Correctional Facility on April 4, 2023.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsOutside the Denver Women's Correctional Facility on April 4, 2023, Robin Farris holds a bouquet of roses, and the hand of her daughter Janelle Elrod, partially hidden, as Elrod’s two children - and Farris’s grandkids - Dominic, 15, and Iyana, 17, follow behind. Dominic is carrying the cardboard box that contains all of Farris’s possessions from prison.
You care.
You want to know what is really going on these days, especially in Colorado. We can help you keep up. The Lookout is a free, daily email newsletter with news and happenings from all over Colorado. Sign up here and we will see you in the morning!
