Vanjones.net

THOSE LEFT BEHIND By Akbar Pray – FCI, Otisville, NY On January the 18th I like thousands of others, learned that we had been denied clemency. For me it was a gut punch to know that friends, family and supporters had invested both emotionally and financially nearly five years of their lives, while my petition languished on someone’s desk, only to come up empty. Each of us left behind receive a garden variety form letter informing us that "The application for of (place any one of thousands of names here) for commutation of sentence was carefully considered in this department and the White House, and a decision was reached that a favorable decision is not warranted." For me this caused a great deal of reflection and introspection. What had I failed to do? What criteria had I failed to meet? What differentiated those 18,749, who like me were denied commutations from the 1,715 who were granted a second chance at freedom? As I went over the names and the offenses listed on the Pardon Attorney’s website, I came to realize that the prescribed standards that many of us met were in fact being applied arbitrarily and capriciously or not at all to others who had their petitions granted. Many of those denied were like me, serving non-parolable life sentences. For me this begs the question: is there no combination of events or mitigating factors that could prevent those left behind from dying in prison? Two of the standards that the Office of the Pardon Attorney set and were most closely considered were whether the individual requestor had demonstrated post-conviction rehabilitation and was not a danger to the community if released. Here is what I know firsthand after serving close to thirty years of uninterrupted incarceration: many of these men and woman left behind are far more than the things that they have done wrong in their lives. That they are far more than the conduct that landed them behind prison walls or barb wired fences. Moreover, many of these men and woman have long since aged out of crime. Statistics plainly shows that after the age of 50, a person’s probability of recidivism becomes vanishingly small. Many of these men and woman, after having served twenty- five or thirty years behind bars and are rapidly approaching their sixties and some even their seventies. What is the likelihood of their being armed robbers or selling crack cocaine in the projects or playing knockout on some unsuspecting senior citizen waiting on a bus? The answer to this question is not rocket science. The answer is that there is zero probability for that outcome. I am sure that like me, many of you who have been left behind are feeling a hardening sense of betrayal, of having a rug unceremoniously snatched from under you; a promise broken, a hope betrayed. Having dotted all of the I's and crossed all of the T's you are yet left wanting, though no longer waiting. However, let me say this: we can galvanize, organize and bring our matters and our issues front and center. We can use social media and the power of the press or we can sit and stew. We can campaign or we can complain. Today I watched on national TV, the gathering of millions of protestors at our nation’s capital and around the world. For us this should be a teachable moment. We are not powerless as long as we have breath in us and loved ones willing to support our cause. We have to organize then galvanize.