Dear John,
After spending 16 years incarcerated in federal prisons, Gwen Levi was finally home.
Released to home confinement last June, Ms. Levi spent the past year reconnecting with her sons and grandsons, helping to take care of her elderly mother, volunteering at advocacy organizations that provide critical services for incarcerated people, and perhaps most crucially - increasing her chances of staying safe from COVID-19 as a 76-year-old cancer survivor.
But one year after her release, Ms. Levi was sent back to prison.
Why? Because she missed a phone call from her case manager while she was in a class to learn computer skills.
Sign the petition and demand President Biden grant clemency to Ms. Levi today.
Ms. Levi was one of thousands of people, deemed “low risk”, and released from federal prison to finish their sentences on home confinement last year due to the increased threat of the pandemic in prisons.
The vast majority of those released were elderly and living with preexisting health conditions, often exacerbated by the lack of healthcare within the prison system.
But even despite the 99.9% success rate of home confinement,1 the Trump Administration used its final days to issue a legal memo that would not only force people to return to federal prison, but also require people to pay their own way back.2
Almost 20k Color of Change members, just like you, joined us in urging the Attorney General to rescind the Trump-era legal memo and keep people like Ms. Levi at home.
But we were met with silence, and now Ms. Levi is back in a cage.
John, this has gone too far and we can no longer wait on the Attorney General and the Department of Justice.
Now is the time to call on President Biden to use his powers of clemency to release Ms. Levi from prison and protect 4,500 others just like her who are at risk of being sent back to prison.
“I feel like I was attempting to do all the right things,” Ms. Levi said. “Breaking rules is not who I am. I tried to explain what happened, and to tell the truth. At no time did I think I wasn’t supposed to go to that class. I apologize to my mother and my family for what this is doing to them.”3
Now her mother is alone, and Ms. Levi fears she won’t be able to survive without her help.4
John, it’s clear that this is about punishment, not public safety or rehabilitation. Ms. Levi was trying to better herself and as a result was sent to live in a cage.
When President Biden took office, he vowed to overhaul the criminal justice system, cut the federal prison population by more than half, and expand programs that offer alternatives to incarceration.
If the Biden Administration won’t grant clemency to Ms. Levi and keep 4,500 people at home - he will be presiding over the fastest expansion of the federal prison population in history.5
John, this is not what we voted for.
Ms. Levi deserves better, and she needs our support.
Until Justice is Real,
Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Megan, Erika, Malachi, Ernie, Palika, Madison, Ariel, Trevor, Ana, McKayla, and the rest of the Color Of Change team.
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REFERENCES:
1. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/309148?t=9&akid=51295%2E4731121%2E40J5VS
2. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/309148?t=11&akid=51295%2E4731121%2E40J5VS
3. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/312296?t=13&akid=51295%2E4731121%2E40J5VS
4. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/309147?t=15&akid=51295%2E4731121%2E40J5VS
5. https://act.colorofchange.org/go/312297?t=17&akid=51295%2E4731121%2E40J5VS
Color Of Change is building a movement to elevate the voices of Black folks and our allies, and win real social and political change. Please help keep our movement strong.
