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November 11, 2021

Advocacy Group Demands Gov. Hochul Increase Clemencies as NY Announces Plan to Close 6 Prisons
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New York has announced it will close six prisons next year as the
state's prisoner population dropped to its lowest level since 1984. In
related news, the advocacy group Release Aging People in Prison, or RAPP
Campaign, held multiple rallies Tuesday to urge Governor Kathy Hochul to
dramatically increase the number of prisoners granted clemency. The
group says that 16,000 clemency applications have been filed since 2011,
yet former Governor Andrew Cuomo commuted just 41 sentences. This is an
advocate reading the words of Kim Brown, a prisoner at the Bedford Hills
Correctional Facility. She has been behind bars for around half her
life. 

Roslyn Smith: "'Blacks are disproportionately sentenced to exponentially
higher sentences than our white counterparts. And until the legislation
or governor does something to change that, justice will never be served.
The last three women to receive clemency were all white women. Two of
them served less time than me.'"



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