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Anthony Papa (born June 6, 1960, in New York City) is an artist, author, advocate against the war on drugs and co-founder of the Mothers of the New York Disappeared.
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Anthony Papa (born June 6, 1960, in New York City) is an artist, author, advocate against the war on drugs and co-founder of the Mothers of the New York Disappeared.
Papa owned an auto-repair and radio business prior to his arrest. A member of Papa's bowling team offered Papa "some easy money" for delivering an envelope of cocaine to the town of Mount Vernon, New York. Unbeknownst to Papa, the courier who gave him the envelope was an undercover police informant; Papa was arrested upon delivery of 4+1⁄2 ounces (128 g) of cocaine.
New York's strict drug laws, enacted during the term of former governor Nelson Rockefeller, and now known as the Rockefeller drug laws are among the toughest in the United States. The possession of 4 ounces (113 g) or more of such drugs as heroin and cocaine — or the sale of 2 ounces (57 g) or more of the same substances — carried the same penalties as those imposed for second-degree murder. (The laws were revised in 2004/2005. [1] )
Papa was convicted of possession and sale of narcotics. Despite his status as a non-violent, first-time offender, Papa received one sentence of 15 years-to-life.
Papa served 12 years in Sing Sing before Governor George Pataki granted him clemency in 1996. During his incarceration, Papa earned two bachelor's degrees and a master's from the New York Theological Seminary. Papa began to paint while in prison, and his self-portrait "15 to Life" was exhibited at the Whitney Museum of American Art, [2] which led to a flood of media attention. [3]
Papa's first book, 15 to Life, was published in 2004. The book is an autobiographical account of Papa's experience with New York's criminal justice system and narcotics laws. The book is currently being transformed into a major film as reported by Variety. [4] This film option was not renewed by the producers and all of Papa's rights were reverted to him in 2014. In 2018 Spray Filmes a production company based in São Paulo Brazil optioned his second book This Side of Freedom: Life after Clemency and screenplay registered with the WGA titled "This Side of Freedom" were optioned for one year. In October 2019 the rights once again were reverted to Papa.
On December 30, 2016, Anthony Papa received a pardon from Gov. Andrew Cuomo, becoming the first individual in NYS to receive both a clemency (Gov. Pataki 1996) and a pardon. According to the Huffington Post , the pardon represented a vindication for him and a public proclamation that the punishment he received was inappropriate for the non-violent drug crime he committed. This Side of Freedom: Life After Clemency is a follow-up memoir about Papa's 20 years of freedom. The Socialist Worker and other media outlets covered his book release. It was reported on June 25, 2017, by Richard Johnson of the NY Post that "Tony Papa, who became an advocate against the war on drugs after 12 years behind bars, is trying to get Adrian Grenier to star in the story of his life, "This Side of Freedom." Papa sent the "Entourage" star his screenplay and Grenier wrote back, "Love it. I could play you for sure". Currently Anthony Papa is an exhibiting artist whose work is included in a ground breaking exhibit titled "Walls Turned Sideways:Artists Confront the Justice System. The exhibit is on view at Tufts University Gallery in Boston until April 2020.
After his release Papa tried his hand at acting on HBO's Oz and has appeared in several films. Papa founded The Mothers of the New York Disappeared in 1997 (along with Randy Credico), and this group became the leading activist entity against the Rockefeller Drug Laws. Papa continued his advocacy to reform the drug laws of the United States currently works for Drug Policy Alliance as the manager of Media Relations. He continues to use the arts as an effective tool to fight for those less fortunate. [5] [6] He has published op-ed's in regional papers across the United States [7] and his advocacy for drug law reform has been covered by national magazines such Time magazine. [8]
On March 7, 2009, after years of advocating for meaningful reform of the Rockefeller Drug laws, Gov. Paterson signed into law sweeping revisions leaving Papa vindicated. [9]
Papa appeared with Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter in Quebrando o Tabu (2011) a film released in Brazil about the global war on drugs directed by Fernando Grostein Andrade and produced by Luciano Huck. The film was then re-released under the name of Breaking the Taboo when Sam Branson (son of Richard Branson) partnered with Andrade. The film, narrated by Morgan Freeman, premiered in London and New York.
In 2011, Papa defended Cameron Douglas (son of actor Michael Douglas), when he was convicted of a drug crime and sentenced to 5 years in prison. While Douglas was incarcerated, authorities caught him using drugs, causing the judge to extend his sentence by four and a half years. Papa wrote 16 opinion pieces defending Cameron. In 2012, Michael Douglas stated during his Emmy acceptance speech that he was being denied the ability to visit his son for two years because of Cameron's drug use in prison. Papa started a petition on Change.org which received extensive media coverage, demanding that Douglas be allowed to see his son. Thousands of emails were sent to Attorney General Eric Holder and the warden of the prison that held Cameron. Soon after Michael Douglas was allowed to visit his son. Papa has been very vocal about the war on drugs appearing on national shows such as MSNBC, CNN. He has appeared on shows such as the Democracy Now, and FOX NEWS and many other media outlets across the United States. Recently he has spoken about Attorney General Jeff Sessions' attempt to bring back the drug war of the 1980s and 1990s.
Roger M. Clinton Jr. is an American actor and musician. He is the younger half-brother of former United States President Bill Clinton.
Bill Clinton was criticized for some of his presidential pardons and acts of executive clemency. Pardoning or commuting sentences is a power granted by the Constitution to sitting U.S. presidents. Scholars describe two different models of the pardons process. In the 'agency model' of pardons the process is driven by nonpolitical legal experts in the Department of Justice. In contrast, Clinton followed the 'presidential model', viewing the pardon power as a convenient resource that could be used to advance specific policy goals.
The Rockefeller Drug Laws are the statutes dealing with the sale and possession of "narcotic" drugs in the New York State Penal Law. The laws are named after Nelson Rockefeller, who was the state's governor at the time the laws were adopted. Rockefeller had previously backed drug rehabilitation, job training and housing as strategies, having seen drugs as a social problem rather than a criminal one, but did an about-face during a period of mounting national anxiety about drug use and crime. Rockefeller, who pushed hard for the laws, was seen by some contemporary commentators as trying to build a "tough on crime" image in anticipation of a bid for the Republican presidential nomination in 1976. The bill was signed into law by Governor Rockefeller on May 8, 1973.
John Forté is an American recording artist and producer. He is primarily known for being a member of the musical duo Refugee Camp All-Stars, and his production work on the Fugees album The Score. He has released four albums. In 2000, Forté was arrested and charged with possession with intent to distribute cocaine and conspiracy to distribute; he was convicted and sentenced to the mandatory minimum 14 years after being found guilty. In 2008, Forté's prison sentence was commuted by President George W. Bush.
The Office of the Pardon Attorney, part of the United States Department of Justice, assists the president of the United States in his exercise of executive clemency as authorized by Article II, Section 2, of the US Constitution. The office is headed by the pardon attorney, with the current incumbent being Elizabeth G. Oyer, appointed by President Joe Biden in 2022. It operates under the general oversight of the deputy attorney general and in consultation with the attorney general or their delegate to review and process clemency applications.
Cameron Morrell Douglas is an American actor.
Kemba Smith Pradia is an American prison reform activist. She began a 24½ year sentence for drug-related charges in 1994, ultimately serving six years before being granted clemency by then-President Bill Clinton. Her advocacy work focuses on the intersection of mandatory minimum sentencing laws and race in America. She is the subject of a 2024 film titled "Kemba" which tells her story.
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Richard Wershe Jr., known as "White Boy Rick", is an American former drug trafficker and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) informant. The youngest known informant in the history of the FBI, Wershe became a confidential informant when he was 14 to 16 years old. When he was 15, Wershe told the FBI that a major drug dealer had spoken of paying a bribe to Detroit detective inspector and subsequent city council president and mayoral candidate Gil Hill in order to quash the investigation into a 13-year-old boy's murder. At the age of 17, Wershe was arrested for possession of 8 kg of cocaine and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 2017, justice campaigners publicized Wershe's case and he was subsequently paroled, but directly to a prison in Florida to serve another five years for an auto theft conviction from 2008. Campaigners for Wershe have suggested to reporters that the length of his incarceration may have been connected to him having provided the FBI with information leading to the arrest of family members and associates of former Detroit mayor Coleman A. Young, as well as the allegation about Young's political ally Hill. In 2016, notorious former Detroit-based hitman Nate "Boone" Craft alleged Hill had once tried to commission the murder of Wershe.
Alice Marie Johnson is an American criminal justice reform advocate and former federal prisoner. She was convicted in 1996 for her involvement in a Memphis cocaine trafficking organization and sentenced to life imprisonment. In June 2018, after serving 21 years in prison, she was released from the Federal Correctional Institution, Aliceville, after President Donald Trump granted her clemency, thereby commuting her sentence, effective immediately.
Brittany K. Barnett is an American attorney and criminal justice reform advocate. Through the organization Buried Alive, which she co-founded with Sharanda Jones and Corey Jacobs, she came to national attention when she and her co-counsel, MiAngel Cody, litigated the release of 17 people in 90 days. Her organization has received funding and endorsement from television personality Kim Kardashian. Barnett is also the founder of Girls Embracing Mothers, a non-profit organization that provides support for girls with mothers in prison.
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Amy Ralston Povah is an American prisoner advocate and the founder of the CAN-DO Foundation.
Mathavakannan Kalimuthu is a Singaporean who, together with his two friends, assaulted and murdered a gangster named Saravanan Michael Ramalingam on 26 May 1996. Mathavakannan, who was arrested on 4 July 1996, was tried and convicted of murder by the High Court of Singapore. As murder was a hanging offence in Singapore and since he was 16 days past his 18th birthday when he committed murder, Mathavakannan was sentenced to suffer the mandatory sentence of death on 27 November of the same year he killed Saravanan. Mathavakannan's two accomplices were also found guilty and sentenced to death in the same trial.
Sim Ah Cheoh was a Singaporean drug trafficker of Chinese descent. She was originally sentenced to death in 1988 for the crime, for which she was arrested in 1985, and Sim's two accomplices Lim Joo Yin and Ronald Tan Chong Ngee were also arrested and received the same sentence, and like Sim, both also lost their appeals against their sentence. Subsequently, while Lim and Tan were executed on 3 April 1992, Sim was granted clemency and her sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, making her the fourth person since 1959, as well as the second female and second drug convict on death row to be pardoned from execution by the President of Singapore.
Topeka Kimberly Sam is an American advocate for criminal justice reform and a former federal prisoner. She was sentenced to over 10 years in prison in January 2013, after pleading guilty to her role in a drug trafficking conspiracy. Upon her early release from the Federal Correctional Institution, Danbury in 2015, Sam became involved in helping women transition back into society after incarceration. Her advocacy has garnered widespread recognition and awards. President Donald Trump granted a full pardon to Sam on December 23, 2020.
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