Just about this time last year I wrote to Governor Elliot Spitzer asking him to go on a personal rescue mission and grant clemency to a large number of Rockefeller Drug Law offenders who have fully rehabilitated themselves and already served enormous amounts of time behind bars under the draconian provisions of mandatory-minimum sentencing.
In response, Gov. Spitzer granted zero clemencies. It was an insult to those many men and women who are fully rehabilitated but are still stuck in New York State's gulags because of the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Now I am making this request again of Gov. David Paterson.
I know the governor personally. Paterson was a champion of Rockefeller reform when he was a senator representing Harlem. He came to my book party at the Whitney Museum of American Art and stood tall behind the podium next to my painting, "15 to Life." I painted it in my prison cell in 1988 when I realized I was going to spend the most productive years of my life behind bars because of a single mistake I had made. The painting appeared at the Whitney several years later sparking public awareness of my case. Gov. Pataki granted me clemency in 1997.
In 2004, Paterson again spoke boldly about the urgent need for changes to the Rockefeller Drug Laws. He knew all too well about their draconian nature since these laws heavily affected many of the residents in his Harlem community. There are many men and women who are ready to return to their families and become productive citizens but are stuck in prison because the mandatory minimum sentences found in the Rockefeller Drug Laws. A lot of them have exhausted their legal remedies and their only hope of regaining their freedom is through the extraordinary act of executive clemency. Today, with the stroke of his pen, Gov. Paterson could rise above this long-standing political quagmire that has prevented fully rehabilitated prisoners from reentering society and reuniting with their families.
Traditionally at Christmas time, New York's governor grants executive clemency to a number of individuals. Former Republican Gov. George Pataki granted 32 in his career, with 28 of them being Rockefeller Drug Law prisoners. Gov. Mario Cuomo granted 33 and Gov. Hugh Carey gave out 155. If granted clemency, a prisoner immediately becomes eligible for parole. Although parole is not guaranteed, the New York State Parole Board has released the majority of prisoners whose sentences were commuted.
There are almost 13,000 individuals imprisoned under the Rockefeller Drug Laws today. Over 90 percent of them are black or Latino. Despite two minor reforms in 2004 and 2005 -- a welcomed first step -- the majority of Rockefeller prisoners were never touched by the changes.
For many of those who have fallen through the cracks of Rockefeller Drug Law reform, their only hope to regain their freedom is through the act of executive clemency. There will be many families praying this holiday season that Gov. Paterson shows his compassion for those who have taken it upon themselves to improve their own lives and are ready to reenter society as productive citizens.