By: Raga Justin, Times Union
Legislators heard testimony Wednesday on a pair of bills that advocates say would help elderly inmates with
decades-long sentences avoid dying in prison
ALBANY — Robert Lind’s testimony, stamped in fading, typewritten letters, came in late November from the maximum-security Sullivan Correctional Facility in Fallsburg.
Lind, 76, was convicted of attempted murder in 1982 at the age of 35, he wrote. As of Dec. 16, he will have spent 40 years in prison while serving a sentence that carries a minimum of 50 years.
“At some point, respect for human dignity means a chance to reintegrate with society, a chance to make amends, and a chance to have the criminal justice system acknowledge personal changes — whether those changes were due simply to growing up and aging, or to more intentional efforts at personal development,” Lind wrote in a letter submitted to the state Senate Committee on Crime Victims, Crime and Correction.