Prisoners are asking President Trump to release them for Thanksgiving, and some think this year he may actually do it.
Many people with long sentences told the Washington Examiner they hope Trump will make good on pledges to free inmates, perhaps at the same time he “pardons” turkeys named Bread and Butter at a jovial meat industry event on Tuesday.
Trump publicly asked three former prisoners last month for “a big list” of people to release. He said he was enduring his own injustice with impeachment proceedings.
“Give me the right ones … and as soon as you can, OK?” Trump said. “Because you know some great people that are going to be there for many, many years.”
For past Thanksgivings, inmates were hopeful but ultimately disappointed.
“In November 2017, I wished I was Drumstick or Wishbone. Then in 2018 I wished I was Peas or Carrots,” said Angela Wright, a 42-year-old mother almost halfway through a 30-year sentence for dealing crack cocaine. Wright said, “So far, the answer is, ‘Maybe, if I were a turkey.’ So, this year, I’m begging [Trump], ‘Gobble Gobble, please have mercy on me and my son! We will be forever grateful and make you proud.’”
Trump ran for office in 2016 on a law and order platform, often praising police and denouncing policies he considered too lenient. But in office, he helped pass a significant criminal justice reform law that shortened thousands of prison sentences and has made use of his pardon and prison commutation powers, most recently to help a trio of alleged war criminals.
Clemency advocates see Trump’s embrace as motivated in part by his own sense of persecution, beginning with special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation. But some note that the issue, pushed by his son-in-law Jared Kushner, has potential electoral significance, winning the enthusiasm of minority voters, some of whom now openly sympathize with Trump.
“President Trump is making ‘AMERICA GREAT AGAIN,’ and his message has reached so many of us inside prisons where I have been the past 31 years as a first offender,” wrote Rufus Rochell, 67, who was sentenced to 40 years for dealing crack. “It would be a great honor to personally thank President Trump if I were one of the chosen few to receive the same mercy as the two lucky turkeys that are guaranteed free range every year for the balance of their lives.”
Tanesha Bannister, 45, who was freed by the First Step Act, said, “The president is a man to his word, he don’t get enough credit.” She added, “I’m here today speaking with you because of the president.”
Inmates offered a variety of reasons Trump should free them.
“Clemency on Thanksgiving would give me a new start so the new version of me can flourish,” said Tynice Hall, 36, who has a young son and who is 13 years into a 28-year crack sentence. “No longer will I be a liability to the taxpayer, because I’ll be an asset to my family, society, and even the world, because I have so much love in my heart.”
Crystal Munoz, a 40-year-old mother of two who is 12 years into a 15-year sentence for dealing marijuana, said she’s concerned about her daughters growing up feeling abandoned. Phyllis Hood, 65, is more than halfway through a 22-year meth dealing sentence and said she hoped to spend time with her son and granddaughter.
Michael Pelletier, 63, has been on many lists delivered to the White House. He was paralyzed as a child and is serving a life sentence for smuggling marijuana from Canada into Maine. Pot is now legal both places.
“The only thing worse than serving a life sentence for marijuana is serving a life sentence for marijuana in a wheelchair with no decent physical therapy to prevent bladder infections and further progression of my disability,” said Pelletier. “It would be the happiest day of my life to wheel out of this prison and into the arms of my many brothers and sisters who are anxious to welcome me back home.”
Outside advocates are hopeful, despite past disappointments.
“I pray President Trump will be the first sitting president of my adult lifetime who will grant a human clemency over the Thanksgiving holiday,” said CAN-DO Foundation founder Amy Povah. “He marches to his own drum, so I’m thinking he could set a wonderful example and free a few people together with the two traditional turkeys. That would truly be something to celebrate!”
White House representatives did not respond to a request for comment.
