Gregory Mingo / Vera Institute of Justice
Gregory Mingo was granted clemency in 2021 after spending more than 40 years incarcerated in New York State. He now works on clemency applications for others with CUNY Law School and The Second Look Project.
Giving people in prisons the ability to learn more about the world outside—and the hope that they can reenter it—can pay extraordinary dividends.
While I applaud New York Governor Kathy Hochul for transitioning to a system of granting clemency on an ongoing basis, rather than just once at the end of each year, I would like to challenge our governor and representatives to see the advantages of going further during this legislative session. We need to do more to expand clemency—both pardons and commuted sentences—for the benefits it provides for everyone, not only for incarcerated people themselves, but for their families and communities, as well as for state budgets and society.