SIX MOTHER’S DAY RALLIES FOR PAROLE JUSTICE ACROSS NY STATE FEATURE STATE & LOCAL LAWMAKERS AND FAMILIES SEPARATED BY INCARCERATION

(New York State) — Today, on the eve of Mother’s Day weekend, state and local lawmakers, formerly incarcerated mothers and mothers with loved ones in prison, crime survivors, and more held six Mother’s Day Rallies for Parole Justice across New York State. In Harlem, Buffalo, Yonkers, Newburgh, Rochester, and Hauppauge, participants celebrated mothers and mother figures behind the wall of New York state prisons and those with loved ones behind the wall and demand Parole Justice for fair pathways home. Specifically, speakers called for passage of the Fair & Timely Parole Act (S.159-Salazar/A.127-Weprin) and Elder Parole Act (S.9846-Cleare/A.514-Davila)….

Tracie Adams, mother, crime survivor, and formerly incarcerated Rochester Community Leader with VOCAL-NY and the RAPP Campaign, said: “This Mother’s Day, I’ll be thinking about all the heartbroken mothers and grandmothers separated from their families. I was once one of them. And like most of the women I met in prison, I’m a crime survivor, too. Thirty-six years ago, the father of my unborn daughter was murdered right before my eyes. If I had not found a path to healing, I wouldn’t be here today. Elders in the prison showed me how to heal—and how can we can grow to help others heal. By the time the man who murdered my daughter’s father was released from prison, he was a changed person, helping support his family, and I was in a better place, too….