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John,
You may have seen this email in your inbox before, and that's because we
want to make sure you don't miss the great news we have to share before
the holidays: We won the campaign to Keep People Home, now we need
clemency to Get Them Free!
We applaud the Justice Department's reconsideration of an OLC memo that
would have ripped thousands of people living on home confinement from
their families and communities to be sent to prison once again when the
pandemic is declared over.
While we believe it’s a step in the right direction, and everyone we’ve
spoken with on home confinement is grateful to be home with their
families, they’ve also shared stories of the suffering and cruelty that
comes with the carceral restrictions of home confinement. There have even
been several instances where people were sent back to prison because of a
bureaucratic error while on home confinement!
The new memo also creates discretionary power for the Department of
Justice to decide who will stay or be sent back to prison, keeping people
vulnerable to re-incarceration.
This only highlights why keeping people on home confinement isn't enough.
People need to be free.
This is where you come in, John. Please join us in demanding
Biden grant clemency to all those on home confinement today!
[ [link removed] ]demand clemency now
John, President Biden has the power to fix this. He promised us
he'd cut the prison population in half and help put an end to racialized
mass incarceration. And yet, he is dragging his feet on granting clemency
to a group of people who have already proved that they are stronger at
home with their families and communities, and were already heavily vetted
by the Bureau of Prisons in order to be released to home confinement in
the first place.
Biden has the power to make this happen, we demand action, we demand
freedom, we demand clemency now!
[ [link removed] ]PEOPLe don't belong in cages of any kind
John, so much has happened since we sent the first petition for
this campaign. Together, we moved the Administration to review clemency
applications on an individual basis for people on home confinement with
non-violent drug offenses and less than 4 years left on their sentence.
And then in October, Attorney General Merrick Garland indicated that they
might reconsider their position on the OLC memo. We kept pushing and now
we have won.
But John, ALL of the individuals on home confinement need
clemency now. Everyone in the program was already rigorously vetted by the
Bureau of Prisons in order to be on home confinement in the first place.
And almost everyone released has since been thriving at home by
reconnecting with their friends, families, and communities, and engaging
in civic and professional life. .
If Biden is going to make a meaningful impact towards ending racialized
mass incarceration, he needs to grant clemency to everyone living on home
confinement today.
[ [link removed] ]let's get people free
Please see our previous email below for more information on this issue.
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John, Biden told us he would be the President to end mass
incarceration. Instead, he’s sending thousands of our elders back to
prison.
These are mothers, fathers, grandparents, and children who were deemed
high risk for COVID-19 and released from prison to finish their sentences
on home confinement.
They’ve spent the past year getting reacquainted with family and friends,
and supporting their communities. But the Administration’s legal team just
decided to uphold a Trump-era policy that will force these 4,500 people,
many of whom are elders, to be re-incarcerated once the pandemic is
declared over.^1
John, this is where you come in. Biden can grant them clemency
and commute their sentences, but the White House is more worried about
political fallout than preserving justice.
[ [link removed] ]Sign our petition to demand clemency and let Biden know that the real
political fallout is ripping 4,500 people from their families.
When Biden took office, he vowed to overhaul the criminal justice system,
cut the prison population by more than half, and expand programs that
offer alternatives to incarceration.
But unless he grants clemency to those on home confinement, the
Administration will be presiding over the fastest expansion of the federal
prison population in history.
And John, it’s not enough to just keep folks on home
confinement to finish their sentences.
Home confinement is an extension of the prison system. [ [link removed] ]Our people
belong at home with their families without conditions.
Take Gwen Levi for example: a 76-year old mother, grandmother, and cancer
survivor who was finishing her sentence on home confinement when she was
re-incarcerated for missing a call from her case manager while taking a
computer skills class.
Thanks to her legal team and public outcry from over 55k Color of Change
members, Ms. Levi was sent home on compassionate release.
But thousands remain on home confinement with no certainty about what the
future brings. Should they enroll in school or try to get a job? Or will
they be sent back to prison in the near future?
[ [link removed] ]This is clearly about punishment, not public safety or rehabilitation.
We need Biden to grant clemency now!
Not only is clemency a vital corrective mechanism in a criminal justice
system that unfairly and unjustly criminalizes Black communities, but
clemency from Biden specifically can also serve as a starting point for
redress for his role in architecting the 1994 crime bill that has harmed
so many Black people.
President Biden promised to turn back the tide on decades of mass
incarceration that he once promoted.
John, if he refuses to use his clemency powers for this group
of people who have been successfully and safely living on home confinement
for the past year, then what hope do we have that he’ll follow through on
his commitment to justice?
Biden has not yet made a decision on what he will do, and there’s still
time to move him to action.
[ [link removed] ]Join us in demanding Biden grant clemency to 4,500 people on home
confinement today!
Until Justice is Real,
Scott, Rashad, Arisha, Megan, Malachi, Ernie, Palika, Madison, Ariel,
Trevor, Ana, McKayla, and the rest of the Color Of Change team.
___________________________________________________________________________________________________________
REFERENCES:
1. [link removed]
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[ [link removed] ]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.
[ [link removed] ]Make a Donation
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