In his last days in office, former NY Governor Andrew Cuomo commuted the prison sentences of ten people, including seven people assisted by Defenders Clinic students and faculty. These seven people — Ulysses Boyd, Lee Chalk, Paul Clark, Bobby Ehrenberg, David Gilbert, Greg Mingo, and Dontie Mitchell – had collectively been in prison for 210 years and were serving barbaric sentences ranging from fifty to seventy-five years to life. Their average age is 62. In other words, they had been sentenced to death by incarceration.
While there is great joy and cause for celebration, there is also much pain, grief, and anger over the countless others whose hopes for clemency did not materialize. Thousands of people have pending clemency applications. Indeed, the Defenders Clinic has received over 2,300 requests for assistance from people inside and their families.
While the phrase “mass incarceration” is often spoken, too little is actually done to rectify and repair the reality of two million people, overwhelmingly and disproportionately people of color, behind bars. Hopefully, New York’s new Governor will engage in robust and regular grants of clemency to decarcerate New York’s prisons and start on the path to abolition.
– Professor Steven Zeidman