Malcolm X Assassin Is Freed

He has admitted to killing another human being. In my opinion, he should spend the rest of his life in jail.

I do not think that him spending his remaining years on earth behind bars is going to make this world any better. But, on the other hand, he took the life of another person whom had done him nor his family any harm. For that he should have to pay with his life. Not through the death penalty, but by never having his freedom again.

Thomas Hagan, the only person to admit to the killing of Malcolm X in 1965, has been freed on parole.

Hagan was known as Talmadge X Hayer when, on Feb. 21, 1965, he was one of three men who shot Malcolm X at Harlem's Audubon Ballroom. Hagan said at the time that the two men convicted with him were not involved; they insisted they were innocent and were pardoned in the 1980s.

The assassination stemmed from Malcolm X's split from the Nation of Islam and its leader, Elijah Muhammad, in 1964. The Nation of Islam has always denied any involvement in the murder.

Hagan was freed from the minimum-security Lincoln Correctional Facility in Harlem, which is at the intersection of West 110th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard.

Malcolm X would have turned 85 next month.

Credits: Ken Rudin, NPR