To end death by incarceration in New York, more than 130 organizations wrote to the leaders of the NYS Legislature urging passage of the Elder Parole bill (S.2144). “A coalition of groups backing criminal justice law changes are urging state lawmakers to back a bill that would allow for the release of prison inmates who are age 55 or older and have served more than 15 years in prison,” wrote New York State of Politics on October 24.
October 25, 2019
Senator Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins
28 Wells Avenue, Building #3
Yonkers, NY 10701
Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie
1446 East Gun Hill Road
Bronx, NY 10469
Dear Majority Leader Stewart-Cousins and Speaker Heastie,
On August 13, 2019, Valerie Gaiter died in the custody of the New York State prison system of untreated cancer. She was 61 years old and had served nearly 40 years in prison on a 50-year-to-life sentence. At the time of her death, she had served more time than any other woman currently incarcerated in New York State.
During her time in prison, Ms. Gaiter worked hard to reckon with and repent for the irreparable harm she caused as a 21-year-old in Brooklyn in 1979. She earned multiple college degrees, ran the photography program in the Bedford Hills visiting room, and trained service dogs for wounded veterans. Despite her efforts to transform herself and those around her, she was never given a meaningful opportunity for release.
Ms. Gaither would not have been eligible for parole until her 71st birthday, 10 years after her death. Sentences like hers are commonplace in New York State. There are currently more than 1,000 people serving life without parole or a virtual life sentence (a minimum of 50 or more years) who are all but guaranteed to die in prison. In fact, Ms. Gaiter is just one of at least 675 older people who have died in state custody since January 2011.
We, alongside Ms. Gaiter’s family and loved ones are devastated and outraged by her passing. We call on you to take action and commit to passing Elder Parole (S.2144) this legislative session.
Elder parole is a common sense, evidenced-based, and fiscally responsible way to save lives, reunite families and communities, and reinvest millions of taxpayer dollars into much needed public resources. The bill affords people in prison aged 55 and older who have served 15 or more years in prison an opportunity to go before the Parole Board. The bill does not automatically release people from prison, but instead allows the Board to determine whether or not an elder applicant is suitable for release. The bill offers hope and a second chance to those otherwise sentenced to die in prison.
Further, Elder Parole in New York State must include all older people who have already served decades in prison, regardless of their crime or sentence. Exclusions based solely on the nature of a person’s crime only promote notions of punishment and revenge, and offer no benefit to public safety. In fact, they hinder it. Returning elders are mentors and leaders in our communities and help us build the safe and nurturing world we want.
We the undersigned, who represent the broad and diverse statewide community advocating for an end to mass incarceration will not support any form of Elder Parole that offers hope only to some and a death sentence for others. We will not be complicit in the further loss of life behind bars and we ask you to join us in this effort. You must make New York a national leader for fairness and justice by passing Elder Parole in its current Senate form when you return to Albany in January. The lives of countless people depend on it.
Sincerely,
Advocates Delivering Love
Advocates for the Incarcerated at Fordham University Law School
Aging People in Prison Human Rights Campaign
Alabama-CURE
All Things Harlem
Alliance for Quality Education
American Friends Service Committee Prison Watch Program
American Friends Service Committee, New York
American Friends Service Committee, New Jersey
Amnesty International Brooklyn Local Group 27
Appellate Advocates Association of Legal Aid Attorneys, UAW Local 2325
Beacon Prison Action
Bend the Arc Jewish Action
Benedict Advisors LLC
Brooklyn Community Bail Fund
Brooklyn Defender Services
California Coalition for Women Prisoners
Californians United for a Responsible Budget
Campaign to End the New Jim Crow
Capital Area Against Mass Incarceration
Center For Community Alternatives
Center for Constitutional Rights
Center for Justice, Columbia University
Center on Race, Inequality, and the Law at NYU Law
Certain Days Collective
Citizen Action of New York
Citizens Against Recidivism
Citizens for Clean Water
Close Rosies
College & Community Fellowship
Colorado-CURE, Inc.
Columbia County Bail Fund
Communities in Partnership
Community Service Society of New York
Cornell Women’s Decarceration Practicum
Correctional Association of New York
Critical Resistance New York City
Discovery for Justice
Downstate Coalition for Crime Victims
Drug Policy Alliance
Equality for Flatbush (E4F)
Exodus Transitional Community Dutchess County
Exodus Transitional Community New York City
Families for Freedom
Felony Murder Elimination Project
Feminist Research on Violence – NYC
Fordham Law Advocates for the Incarcerated
Fordham Law School’s Criminal Defense Clinic
Fordham University
Greater New York Labor Religion Coalition
Hour Children
Human Rights Watch
Immigrant Defense Project
Incarcerated Nation Collective
Indivisible Brooklyn
Indivisible Harlem
Innocence Project
Interfaith Prison Partnership
Inwood Indivisible
Jewish Voice for Peace NYC
Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club
John Brown Lives!
Justice and Unity for the Southern Tier (JUST)
Justice Roundtable
JustLeadershipUSA
Katal Center for Health, Equity and Justice
Labor-Religion Coalition of New York State
LatinoJustice PRLDEF
Law Enforcement Action Partnership
Legal Action Center
Legal Action Center Legal Aid Bureau of Buffalo
Legal Aid Society
LGBT Community Center of New York City
Life after release
Life for Pot
A Little Piece of Light
Make the Road New York
MEN TALK
MomsRising
Mount Lebanon Baptist Church
NAMI Huntington
National Lawyers Guild – NYC Chapter
New Hour for Women and Children LI
New Rochelle Against Racism/New RoAR
New York Campaign For Alternatives To Isolated Confinement
New York Civil Liberties Union (ACLU of New York)
New York County Defender Services
New York State Coalition Against Sexual Assault
New York State Council of Churches
No IDC NY
No New Jails NYC
NYC Books Through Bars
NYC Jericho Movement
NYU School of Law Prison Reform and Education Project
Parole Preparation Project
Physicians for a National Health Program – NY Metro
Prison Action Network
Release Aging People in Prison Campaign
Rise and Resist
Rise Up Kingston
Riverside Church Prison Ministry
Rockland United Sex Workers and Allies Network
Showing Up for Racial Justice NYC
Sisters of St. Dominic of Blauvelt, NY
Social Justice Committee, Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Poughkeepsie
St. Stephen’s United Methodist Church
STARZ CLOSET
State Vs Us Magazine
STEPS to End Family Violence
The Bronx Defenders
The Bronx Freedom Fund
The Church of Gethsemane
The Fortune Society
The Osborne Association
The Sentencing Project
The Village Zendo
Time for Change Foundation
Tompkins County Showing Up for Racial Justice
Trans Prisoners Coalition
Truth Pharm, Inc.
United Neighborhood Houses of New York
United Voices of Cortland
Upper West Side Action
Uptown Progressive Action
Urban Justice Center
VOCAL-NY
WESPAC Foundation, Inc
Westchester for Change
Witness to Mass Incarceration
Women & Justice Project
Worth Rises
Youth Arts New York
Youth Represent
The bill passed the NYS Senate Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction in April, 2019 (see photo below). Now it’s up the the leadership to move it as soon as the new session launches in January, 2020. Join us in Albany on January 14 to say, “Bring Them Home!” PASS ELDER PAROLE and END DEATH BY INCARCERATION in NYS.
