Protesters want Shapiro to approve more commutations
Dozens of people gathered Downtown on Tuesday to rally against the state attorney general’s voting record on prison sentence commutations, saying he denied too many petitions.
Many held signs and shouted chants such as “This is what democracy looks like” and “If the risk is low, let them go.”
Although the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons recommended more commutations last year than any year since 1995, rally organizers said that Attorney General Josh Shapiro, one of the board members, prevents too many sentence reliefs.
“I think people change, they deserve the right for a second chance,” Human Rights Coalition member and rally organizer Shandre Delaney said. “I just hope that we can persuade Shapiro of the same thing.”
Commutation, which reduces the punishment of a crime, is one of the only ways a prisoner may be eventually released from a sentence of serving life without parole. It requires a unanimous board vote following a hearing, then final approval from the governor.
According to a report by the Pennsylvania CapitalStar, Mr. Shapiro voted no on 24 out of 41 cases in 2019 — more than any other board member.
After witnessing Mr. Shapiro vote to shorten only three of 15 possible sentences at a hearing in December, Ms. Delaney said she and others decided to make their voices heard.
Along with the Human Rights Coalition’s Pittsburgh chapter, the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration-West, the Amistad Law Project and the Abolitionist Law Center were also represented at the rally, which was held outside the former office of Mr. Shapiro on Forbes Avenue.
Ricky Olds, a former prisoner who was released in 2017 after serving 38 years, spoke at the rally. Those in attendance shouted the names of relatives and friends who they felt deserved commutation.
Another rally in Philadelphia against Mr. Shapiro, organized among others by CADBI’s Eastern branch, was held at the same time Tuesday.
“There’s no need for these people to die in prison,” CADBI-West member Cynthia Thomas said. “Many are sick or elderly, or both. We just want Shapiro to understand that he’s not serving the public by keeping them locked up.”
Ms. Thomas’ brother, Vincent, is serving a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Like more than 1,200 other prisoners serving such sentences in Pennsylvania, Ms. Thomas says he was convicted as an “accomplice” to a murder, not the assailant.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Mr. Shapiro said the attorney general has supported more commutations than all of his predecessors over the past 25 years combined.
Yet rally organizers feel that Mr. Shapiro’s record is still inadequate.
“His record versus the past 25 years just is not a good comparison to make,” Ms. Delaney said. “Almost no sentences were commuted then. Most of his fellow board members understand that times have changed.”