11/07/2021
This is a horrific tale from beginning to end, missing a phone call is all it takes to cage you. We need to, as a party, be continous advocates for those who have been caged, robbed and harrassed by the state for nonviolent victmless offenses.
In many cases these individuals have lost their voting rights, rights to self defense, and are placed into a vicious cycle with the intention of continuing to rob them and re-incarcerate them. I personally will always advocate for those who have been wronged, robbed, and incarcerated by the omnipotent state for nonviolent victimless crimes, regardless of their abilities to vote.
"I hereby certify that I do not believe in or advocate the initiation of force as a means of achieving political or social goals."
This woman's name is Gwen Levi.
Gwen is 76 years old, and she's going to prison for missing a phone call.
16 years ago, Gwen was convicted of selling drugs, and sentenced to 24 years in prison. That's over a year longer than Derek Chauvin was just sentenced for murdering George Floyd.
Due to the COVID pandemic, Gwen was released early, under the condition that she wear an ankle monitor, to serve out the rest of her time at home.
But… Gwen doesn't have a home. Her life has been destroyed by being in prison for 16 years, so she moved in with her 94-year-old mother and began taking computer classes.
Gwen also took time to work with prison advocacy groups and rebuild relationships with her family and friends that had been strained by her being in prison for nearly 2 decades.
Gwen was attending her typing course when her mandated ankle monitor triggered an alert. Her supervising officer called her but she wasn’t able to answer immediately, being in the middle of class.
As a result of this missed call, Gwen is being sent back to prison.
How could something as simple as a missed phone call, which happens to all of us, justify throwing a woman in a cage for 8 more years?
An order issued by the Trump administration that is still in effect which says early-release prisoners must go back to prison for even minor infractions.
Now remember, infractions do not mean criminal activity. What is deemed an infraction is largely under the supervising officer’s discretion.
Sapna Mirchandani, Gwen’s lawyer, has proven that there’s no question that she was in class, and the missed call was an unavoidable mistake. Even though the ankle monitor showed her at her approved address, they are still classifying it as an “escape.”
The Federal authorities stated to her, “because Levi could have been robbing a bank, we’re going to treat her as if she was robbing a bank.”
Luckily, Gwen was granted a compassionate release after her arrest. A US District judge decided that sending a nonviolent, cancer surviving grandmother, back to prison was the best use of the hundreds of thousands of dollars needed to do so.
Gwen Levi is safe. But thousands of others released under the COVID-19 program are in jeopardy of being sent back to prison, despite some having gone back to school and securing full-time jobs.
The lives they've started to rebuild can be upended at any time.
Joe Biden has the ability to rescind Trump's order and allow those thousands of other people avoid unnecessary prison time.
Given his record, I'm not very optimistic that he will. After all, Gwen was arrested for violating the laws that Joe helped write and pass into law as a Senator.
(Link in the comments)
