Former Detroit Lions wide receiver Titus Young has been denied parole by the Board of Parole Hearings in California.
Young, 28, was sentenced to four years in prison last April, stemming from a fight in 2016 -- the latest in a string of crimes committed by Young after he was released by the Lions and then the Rams in 2013. For the prior offenses, he had been given probation and sentenced to a stint at a mental health facility.
The recent parole decision was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
The deputy commissioner who reviewed the case wrote in his decision that based on Young's "history of violent criminality and the lack of sustained rehabilitative programming tailored to Mr. Young's history of violent criminality, it is adjudged that aggravating factors outweigh mitigating factors bearing on Mr. Young's risk of violence to the community."
That, the deputy commissioner wrote on Jan. 31 as part of the nonviolent offender parole review process, is why his parole was denied. Young has 30 days from the date he received the decision to challenge the ruling.
The decision weighed Young's prior criminal record and why he is incarcerated as mitigating factors for his parole. The decision did note that in the nine months he has been in prison at the California Rehabilitation Center in Norco, he has had no rules violations involving "injury or the threat of injury."
The report also stated he has taken part in educational, employment and rehabilitative programs while imprisoned and is on the waiting list for anger management, criminal thinking, family relations, vocational electronics and substance abuse programs.
The Los Angeles District Attorney's office opposed Young's parole citing his criminal history. Young also had a letter submitted describing his performance in prison and his assessment of risk of violence in the community.
Young also released some of his diary -- in which he wrote about his struggles with mental health -- to the Los Angeles Times earlier last month.
"I have made so many mistakes I have become a little ashamed of being Titus Young," he wrote, according to the Times. "A lot of the stuff I have done was out of my control during the time. ... I was hearing voices.
"Hearing voices is no joke, it's actually very scary. I feel like someone is trying to kill me."
In the journal, Young wrote that he is suffering from bipolar disorder. Doctors at the Crosby Center outside San Diego, in the Times piece, said Young was suffering from symptoms of CTE. He also wrote he is not sure the cause of the mental illness that he now suffers from.
"My fight or flight in my brain was off and that could be due to head trauma suffered while playing football," Young wrote. "All I know now is I'm back to normal and I take good medication and I'm not ashamed of it either.
"It's kind of hard for me to think wisely in sticky situations where I feel threatened. Taking the medicine allows my mood to be stabilized and helps with hearing voices. Yeah, I have heard voices, as well. The voices came, and came from the bipolar. It's usually when I let my brain relax and focus on others. I can kind of hear them."
Young was a second-round pick out of Boise State in 2011 and caught 81 passes and 10 touchdowns for the Lions in two seasons.