ON REFORMATION

Dear Readers,

We welcome you back to another issue of our Voices for Justice newsletter, where we discuss and seek plausible solutions surrounding matters found within our nation’s criminal justice system, mass-incarceration, policies and legislations, and social inequalities which continue to affect our communities.

In this month’s issue of V4J, we will be discussing a former New York District Judge’s call for reform of sentencing laws. On Sunday, January 8, 2023, the Times Union Newspaper published an article titled “Mandatory Minimums Make A Mockery of Justice” by Nancy Gertner, a former New York District Judge and a senior lecturer on law at Harvard University. The article begins by stating, “there is no other way to put it: in my nearly two decades on the federal bench, I presided over a system of mass-incarceration.” The former judge then went on to add, “While I strove to do justice, too often mandatory-minimum sentencing laws transformed my role from judge to a cog in the wheel, requiring prison terms that were unfair, unjust, and disproportionate.”

This has been a long lasting issue within our judicial system for far too long. Some may say it is a broken system, but in all reality, it is functioning just the way it was designed to operate. The question now is, how do we make it better? The former judge declared, “that’s why I support the passage of three bills that aim to address injustices in New York’s sentencing laws: The Eliminating Mandatory Act, The Second Look Act, and The Earned Time Act.”

These bills are intended to work in tandem with each other, addressing the vastly growing population inside New York state prisons, where a number of men and women are continuing to serve out decades-long sentences given to them in the 1980s and 1990s when excessively long sentences became standard practice. Decades’ long prison terms have become the norm in New York. Every year, nearly one thousand people are sentenced to ten or more years in prison, and over five thousand people–more than ten percent of people in prison–have been there for fifteen years or longer. Over the past fifty years, New York’s laws have resulted in increasingly harsh sentences with no opportunity for sentencing judges to review and reconsider individual cases.

The Second Look Act would allow incarcerated people to petition for resentencing. It would also allow judges to review and reconsider excessive sentences. In doing so, judges could address decades of unjust sentencing that devastated families and communities. The Second Look Act was created by Senator Julia Salazar and Assemblywoman Latrice Walker, who I had the pleasure of meeting and sitting down with to discuss this bill, along with other members of Voices From Within, during our January 20, 2023 Restorative Hope event. Nationally, second look bills are gaining momentum with legislative passed in four states–Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Oregon–and the District of Columbia, and proposed in an additional twenty-two states. Federally, U.S. Senator Corey Booker has proposed second look legislation in Congress.

The Earned Time Act encourages those incarcerated to seek out education, employment, and rehabilitative programs, while serving their sentences. This bill rewards incarcerated people, who are actively working to become contributing members of society by allowing them to earn good-time and merit-time credit. Former Judge Nancy Gertner strongly believes “incentivizing participation and programs is an essential step toward building a world where people come out of prison better prepared to be assets to our community than when they were sentenced.” A number of men and women serving sentences have served as mentors to younger prisoners and have advised them to study, work and focus on self improvement while incarcerated. It is acknowledged that the work they do inside the prisons could be translated into their communities, should these bills pass. Jose Saldana, the director of Release Aging People in Prison Campaign expressed, “Currently and formerly incarcerated people have created some of the most affective anti-violence programs and victim awareness programs in our state, yet many are still languishing and dying behind bars with little or no hope of even being considered for release because of New York’s outdated parole laws.”

Manhattan Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal firmly announced, “Long prison sentences without a meaningful chance for parole don’t keep New Yorkers safe or deter crime. We must stop throwing all of our dollars into these dungeons and instead invest in supporting people’s return to their communities.” Brooklyn and Queens Senator Julia Salazar seems to see the bigger picture as well, “They made terrible mistakes and still they have come back to uplift struggling communities across the state, provide unparalleled support in critical roles like nonprofit leaders, drug recovery specialists, violence interruptors, and re-entry counselors, and help improve safety for all.”

Advocates say the two bills addressed both racial justice issues. The vast majority of incarcerated people in New York State are people of color, and Black and Hispanic people are denied parole at a higher rate than their white counterparts, according to reports by the Times Union newspaper.

During the month of February, myself along with fellow members of Voices From Within had the opportunity of meeting with four New York City judges who all seem to agree and echo the sentiments of former Judge Nancy Gertner, Brooklyn and Queens Senator Julia Salazar, and Manhattan Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal, yet these bills are not passed. If you are a formerly incarcerated individual, or you may have a family member or friend that is currently incarcerated and wish to know more information about these bills and how you can support them, contact: WalkerL@NYassembly.gov, and KSchaffer@communityalternatives.org.