Minnesota families call for sentencing reform, see some hope for change

Families of people serving long prison sentences rallied Sunday outside the governor's residence in St. Paul, seeking to raise awareness of their struggles and those of their incarcerated loved ones.

But the mood Sunday was different from the same event last year. This time, activists said, they felt a little more hopeful that someone in power might listen to them following the elections of Democrats who they believe could be more receptive to their cause.

Twenty people at the frigid rally shared stories about their family members in prison before heading to Mount Zion Temple a short distance down Summit Avenue to share a meal and talk with each other about their hopes for the future.

Alissa Washington of Minneapolis, founder of the Wrongfully Incarcerated and Over-Sentenced Family Council, said she and many other activists at the rally successfully worked to elect former Hennepin County Chief Public Defender Mary Moriarty as the new county attorney. They said they hoped Moriarty, Attorney General Keith Ellison and the DFL trifecta in St. Paul will take seriously their calls to review long sentences and potentially wrongful convictions, which they said have been ignored for years.

"It's like a Pandora's box they don't want to open," Washington said.

But between the Conviction Review Unit assembled by Ellison's office last year and Moriarty's campaign pledges for accountability, Washington said she hoped now that families such as hers might be taken seriously.

The activists want Moriarty, Ellison and the Minnesota Board of Pardons — a panel consisting of Ellison, Gov. Tim Walz and Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Skjerven Gildea, who will review 32 cases this week — to consider the value incarcerated people could bring to their communities if they were released.

"Our community is better served when people are in our community," said Antonio Williams of St. Paul.

Williams, who has been to multiple rallies since his release from prison just over two years ago, said he knows too many people behind bars who maintain their innocence. He said he has high hopes for Moriarty — "I believe Mary is going to do the things she says she's going to do" — but that his real hopes rest with activists.

"Every day, people get up and decide we've had enough," Williams said. "That's where my hope is — with the people."

Nakisha Armstrong said that though the case of her son's father, Deaunteze Bobo, is going before the Pardons Board on Tuesday, she isn't placing her faith in any elected officials.

"I have hope because I believe in God, but I don't have hope in people," Armstrong said. "I'm going to keep bringing it to their front door."

Washington said she was preparing to spend another Christmas without her fiancé, Cornelius Jackson, who has served almost 16 years in prison for aiding and abetting homicide. It's the most difficult time of year, she said, but she and others at the rally said they have found some solace from being together.

Washington said Jackson was wrongfully convicted and that he's been a mentor to people in prison now and those who have been released.

"If he was out here, he'd be able to impact our communities significantly," she said.