RAPP Campaign
Release Aging People in Prison Campaign
By: Nick Reisman, Spectrum News 1 - Changes to New York's victims' compensation law as well as a proposed overhaul of parole are being backed by a founder of the MeToo movement, advocates announced this week....
By: Rebecca C. Lewis and Shantel Destra, City & State New York - As state lawmakers sort out their end-of-session priorities, parole reform appears to be on the agenda for both chambers. The state Senate Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee voted to advance legislation meant to make it easier for incarcerated people to get considered for parole. And the Assembly Correction Committee was set to move that bill, along with another that would make elderly inmates eligible to get parole.
By: Peter Sterne, City & State New York - Bronx District Attorney Darcel Clark is supporting the passage of two bills that would allow people who have served long prison sentences to be eligible for parole.
By: Maia Hibbett, New York Focus - After almost four decades with New York’s prison system, Anthony Annucci is on his way out....
Por: Rev. Juan Pastor Reyes y Elmer Flores, El Diario - "La redención es un principio central de muchas creencias. Creemos que todas las personas pueden ser redimidas y que nadie debe ser dejado atrás por nuestra sociedad. Ese es nuestro mandato diario – manifestar fe en la acción elevando la dignidad de todas las personas..."
By: Jacob Kaye, Queens Daily Eagle - "With just several weeks left before the end of the state’s legislative session, hundreds of criminal justice reform advocates rallied in Albany in support of two bills that would alter the state’s parole process for elderly incarcerated individuals...."
By: Rob Abruzzese, Brooklyn Daily Eagle - "The event, dubbed, 'Freedom at the Finish Line -- Breaking Chains and Winning Parole Justice,' saw 350 passionate advocates take to the Empire State Plaza Concourse, accompanied by a full-size marching band and the powerful voices of freedom songs..."
By: Wyatt Stayner, Prison Journalism Project, "The aging prison population has tripled in the past two decades. These facilities, which offer poor medical care and a stressful environment, are ill-equipped to handle their graying population"
By: Anna Lucente Sterling, Spectrum News/NY1, "When Keith Hunter was released from prison in 2020, it took him two-and-a-half years to secure the keys to his own apartment. Having a stable roof over his head gave Hunter, whose criminal record includes a slew of robbery convictions, a sense of stability after spending more than half of his life in the prison system..."
By: Andre Ward, CityLImits, “We witness firsthand the challenges that our older participants face when they come to us, usually because they no longer have family to turn to after such long periods of incarceration: physical health issues that might be less severe if treated properly sooner; unaddressed trauma, greatly exacerbated by incarceration; lack of financial resources; and homelessness.”
By: Raga Justin, Times Union: ALBANY — Survivors of violent crimes stood side-by-side with former inmates at the Capitol on Tuesday to push again for an overhaul of the state’s parole system, which advocates said has unfairly pitted victims against people who commit crimes — especially in a time of renewed political agitation about public safety.
By: Jacob Kaye, Queens Daily Eagle: Last year, Robert Webster was sitting in prison, facing the prospect of serving two more decades of his 50 year to life sentence. The Queens man had already served 34 years of that sentence, which he was given when he was 17 years old.
