AUGUST 13, 2001.
Dear Friend,
Please read this and forward it to your email list.
WHEN IS A DEBT TO SOCIETY PAID?
Kathy Boudin will go before the New York State Parole Board on August 22, 2001 seeking her release from prison after having served twenty years of the "twenty years to life" to which she was sentenced. If ever there has been a case where contrition and years of continuous service to others merit release on parole, we believe this is it.
But a media campaign has been whipped up that promotes a false version of the facts of the offense for which Kathy was sentenced, and seeks vengeance against Kathy without end. One of its spokesmen was quoted in a recent New Yorker article: "She should stay in prison for the rest of her friggin' life and rot."
We, friends of Kathy, recognize that she has responsibility for the crime in 1981 for which she pleaded guilty, but want to set the record straight and to inform you about what Kathy has been doing since she began her incarceration in a New York State prison twenty years ago.
THE CRIME: Kathy was an unarmed passenger in a getaway U-Haul truck that picked up fleeing robbers at a switch point several miles from the scene of a robbery in Nyack, New York. Kathy had not been present during the robbery in which a Brink’s guard was killed and several injured. When the U-Haul was stopped at the entrance to the New York Thruway ten minutes later, Kathy exited the vehicle and raised her arms in surrender to the police officers manning a roadblock. Almost immediately thereafter, in an attempt to escape, the armed robbers raised the door at the rear of the truck, jumped to the pavement, and shot and killed two Rockland County police officers.
Based on an extensive pretrial record, the sentencing judge found that her role in the Brink’s robbery was secondary and that she was unarmed throughout and did not shoot anyone. He also received assurances from the district attorney and relevant law enforcement agencies that Kathy had never been involved in other acts of violence in which persons were injured or harmed.
THE SENTENCE: Kathy was sentenced to "20 years to life" in prison and has served 20 years.
The clear intent of the district attorney and sentencing judge was that Kathy should spend 20 years in prison for being a "secondary" actor and unarmed participant in a robbery in which a Brink’s guard and two police officers were killed. That was 20 years ago. She is now up for parole.
The sentencing judge’s intent could not have been more clearly stated:
"When we negotiated and bargained for the imposition of a minimum period, I settled upon a period of time that I honestly believe was right, that represented a just result. I did that fully recognizing the likelihood that the parole authorities would release Miss Boudin at the expiration of that period..."
The district attorney agreed, noting that her parole at the end of 20 years depended entirely on her performance while in prison:
"Whether Miss Boudin is capable of rehabilitation cannot be determined by anyone at this time That is a question that the Parole Board will have to decide on October 20th, 2001. Her success, Miss Boudin’s success or failure in this respect rests entirely, entirely, in her hands dependent on her future course of conduct and action."
KATHY BOUDIN’S PERFORMANCE WHILE IN PRISON HAS BEEN EXEMPLARY.
For near 20 years she has worked within the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility creating nationally recognized prison programs. She developed programs that help inmates’ children and strengthen inmates’ families. She created effective peer community health programs to address AIDS and other health concerns. She was pivotal in re-establishing a college program at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility after federal and state funds were withdrawn.
In letters written urging Kathy’s parole, current inmates, former inmates, and the children of both have testified about how much she has helped them redirect their lives away from crime and violence and toward lifetimes of service and commitment to community and others.
"Until I met Kathy in 1988 I was just hanging out in Bedford, doing time. Meeting Kathy was my turning point..."
"She was on many death-bed vigils. Some of the women requested to have Kathy present when they visited with their children..."
"(She was) my role model, showing me that our goals were obtainable despite the fact that we were in prison...We were in prison but our minds were not".
"How do you thank someone who has changed your life?”
"When I first met Kathy I was coming to grips with being HIV positive and all that entails. (She was) there for me..."
"I was a woman who entered into the system with a fifth grade education and had very low self-esteem. Kathy Boudin inspired me to go back to school and obtain a good education.”
"She helped me to realize that we as sisters are responsible for caring, supporting and educating our own community."
"Kathy was one of the first inmates that I heard taking responsibility for her life and the actions that brought her to prison and encouraging others to do the same."
KATHY BOUDIN IS A CHANGED PERSON AND FULLY REHABILITATED.
Kathy is not the person she was in 1981. Filled with a sense of responsibility and commitment to others, she has demonstrated consistently that she is not a threat to anyone and would be a most productive, contributing member of society out of prison, as she has been within prison. Norma Hill, one of the victims of the crime who testified against Kathy and her co-defendants, has since met with her in prison and is urging the parole board to release her as a fully rehabilitated individual.
KATHY BOUDIN HAS EXPRESSED HER REMORSE.
In published writings, interviews and poetry Kathy has consistently expressed her profound remorse and responsibility for involvement in her crime. She writes: "If only there were a place where the living and the dead could meet, to tell their tales, to weep. I would reach for you -- not so that you could forgive me, but so that you could know that I have no pride for what I have done, only the wisdom and regret that come too late."
NOW WHAT?
Kathy has served her minimum sentence. No one denies that the crime with which she was involved was tragic and enormously damaging to lives, families and communities. But we ask, when is the debt paid? In some respects, of course, to the families and to Kathy’s 21 year-old son, the answer is never. Kathy knows that well.
We know that sometimes people’s desire for revenge is never satiated. We also know that Kathy’s release neither condones the violence of the past, nor ignores the pain and death that resulted, in part, from her actions. Her release is, however, recognition that due punishment has been given; that justice has been served.
As Truth and Reconciliation commissions around the globe testify, there is a significant opportunity to be found in confronting the past, meting out punishments and then, when they are complete, moving forward.
We hope that the Parole Board will do what justice and all religions that value redemption require. But what is at stake goes beyond the case for Kathy's release, clear as it is. The question is not just “When is the punishment over for Kathy Boudin?” but whether we want to live in a prison-centered society that values vengeance over personal transformation, and punishment over education.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Forward this message and disseminate the information to everyone you think cares about our criminal justice system and would be interested in learning the truth about Kathy’s case.
If you have questions about Kathy’s case, would like more information or would be willing to help in the next phase of this effort if she is not paroled, please email one of us. For further information you can click below:
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/36168.htm http://www.thejournalnews.com/newsroom/081101/11boudin.html
Sincerely, on behalf of Kathy Boudin’s many friends,
Thea Jackson thea23 at juno.com Suzanne Kessler skessler at purchase.edu