A Massachusetts man convicted of a double murder who later injured correctional officers while incarcerated has been granted parole.

In 1991, Zakariya Ibrahim-Bush’s girlfriend had told him she was afraid of 22-year-old Melvin Bonnet. He assured her no one would hurt her, the Massachusetts Parole Board wrote.

On Dec. 13, 1991, Ibrahim-Bush, 19, was at home with his girlfriend and her children in Brockton when he went outside the apartment.

He could be heard saying, “[N]o one’s getting my woman,” followed by a sound “like firecrackers,” according to the parole board.

Bonnet and 20-year-old Christopher Green were killed.

Ibrahim-Bush was later found living in New York under the name Kalvin Johnson.

On Aug. 29, 1994, after a jury trial in Plymouth Superior Court, Ibrahim-Bush was found guilty of two counts of first-degree murder and received two concurrent sentences of life in prison without the possibility of parole.

His time in prison wasn’t easy.

On April 25, 1996, Ibrahim-Bush received a consecutive 1 to 2 year sentence for assault and battery on a correctional officer. And on June 5, 1998, he received a concurrent 4 to 4 years and 1 day sentence to be served from and after the murder sentence for assault by means of a dangerous weapon and assault and battery on a correctional officer.

However, in January 2024, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled in Commonwealth v. Mattis that sentencing people, ages 18 through 20 at the time of their offense, to life without the possibility of parole was unconstitutional and amounted to “cruel and unusual punishment.”

Massachusetts was the first state in the country to transform the law, experts said.

“Essentially, the brains of what we are calling ‘late adolescents’ or ‘emerging adults’ function very much like juveniles,” Northampton attorney Paul Rudof, one of the lawyers who successfully challenged life sentences for individuals aged 18 to 20, told The Republican.

There were 210 cases that fell into the Mattis decision across Massachusetts, including Ibrahim-Bush.

He went in front of the parole board for the first time on May 21.

The parole board acknowledged his “initial period of incarceration was troubling” in its Oct. 27 decision. However, “his last disciplinary report involving violence occurred almost 20 years ago,” the board wrote.

Ibrahim-Bush began rehabilitative programming while incarcerated long before the Mattis decision.

“While incarcerated, Mr. Ibrahim-Bush has participated in many meaningful programs addressing his risk and need areas, including Restorative Justice and Alternatives to Violence,” the parole board wrote.

He also got his GED and is enrolled at Boston College.

Dr. Frank DiCataldo evaluated Ibrahim-Bush and considers him “to be a low risk for recidivism.”

The court’s Mattis decision has been devastating for the families of those killed as they are forced to relive the trauma, often going in front of the parole board and the incarcerated individual to make their own case.

Families have described the process as a “nightmare,” stating they feel betrayed and that the system is treating murderers as victims while their own pain is ignored. One family member during a previous hearing walked out, feeling as if his side wasn’t being fairly heard after the incarcerated individual was told they did a good job.

The parole board has so far granted freedom to more than 25 people, which is a significant majority of those who have had hearings and decisions released.

Ibrahim-Bush was granted parole to a sober house. He will have electronic monitoring for six months, be supervised for drugs and alcohol and have no contact with the victims’ family.