Tracy Hardin was convicted of first-degree murder and willful injury in 1995, she received a sentence of life without parole. In Iowa, where Tracy was sentenced, she will never be eligible for parole unless her sentence is commuted to a number of years. Tracy Hardin takes full responsibility for her actions, which injured her ex-husband Robert Hardin and resulted in the death of Amy Wilson. However, Tracy’s life sentence does not consider the fact that Tracy is no longer the woman she was when she committed her crime, nearly 3 decades ago.

Tracy has put enormous effort into helping others while in prison. She has helped other inmates by serving as a Mentor (7 years), teaching Anger Management class (5 years), participated in domestic violence support groups. She initiated her prison's first scholarship program to allow inmates to take college courses. She initiated many changes in the visiting room to make it more family/children-friendly: special themed days, facepainting for pictures, wall murals for picture backdrops, cotton candy & popcorn machines. Tracy has also done significant community service to assist groups outside of the prison. She had donated handcrafted items (scarves & greeting cards), her artwork and money to a variety of organizations including Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer Awareness, St. Judes Hospital, Ronald McDonald House, Mitchellville nursing home, Southern Hills nursing home, Children and Families of Iowa, Blank Children's hospital and the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Tracy has also worked on improving herself by becoming certified as a Master Gardener through Iowa State University. Using those skills, she supervised the growing of 40,000 pounds of fruit/vegetables for the prison, saving taxpayer dollars and improving the quality of food for the inmates. She has benefited from involvement in victim impact courses, violence alternatives, restorative justice programming and public panels on crime deterrence.

There were also several mitigating factors that impacted Tracy's crime, which her mandatory life without parole sentence cannot take into account. Tracy suffered years of abuse throughout her marriage; physical, sexual, psychological, and emotional. In the days leading up to Tracy's crime, Tracy attempted to seek help from five separate agencies. Tracy even tried to commit herself into psychiatric care. A video of Tracy sitting in the waiting room of Broadlawn's hospital attempting to check herself surfaced after Tracy's trial (shown in the video links below with Tracy's husband and mother) but the courts have not granted her a new trial in which she could present this new evidence. After waiting for 90 minutes, Tracy left Broadlawn hospital. Mental healthcare has improved tremendously since 1995 when Tracy committed her crime. Broadlawn changed their policies and now when a patient arrives at their hospital seeking psychiatric care the door locks behind them and they are not able to leave until they have been cleared by a doctor. Had this policy been in effect in 1995 Tracy would have gotten the help she needed and would not be in prison.

In the decades that Tracy has been incarcerated she has become a stronger and healthier woman. Tracy is working towards her Associates Degree and has served as a mentor to other women in prison, inspiring many. Tracy has had a tremendous positive impact on the lives of many women who have been sentenced to prison over the past 25+ years, encouraging them to turn their lives around and pursue their education so that they do not come back. Commuting Tracy's sentence does not mean Tracy will not be punished for her crime; she lives every day with deep remorse. Commuting Tracy's sentence will only mean that someday she has a chance at a life outside prison, where she can make a positive impact on the larger community, not just the incarcerated community.

Summary of Tracy's community service​

Video from Tracy's husband, Jerry Bogart​

Video from Tracy's niece, Aneda Sandoval​

Video from Tracy's childhood friend, Christine Kusch​

Video from Tracy's mother, Ann Lettington