Clemency for Judith Clark
On January 12, 2012, an extensive feature article about Judith Clark was published on the front page of the New York Times Magazine. Clark is a former militant left-wing activist incarcerated for her involvement in a 1981 Brinks heist in New York’s Rockland County that resulted in the deaths of an armored-car guard and two Nyack, New York police officers. The article by long-time New York City journalist Tom Robbins highlights Clark’s metamorphosis in prison.
A powerful reflection written by Clark about her spiritual path to remorse and repentance entitled “My Process of T’shuvah” was among the features in the Spring 2011 issue of Fellowship magazine - Transformation of/in Prisons. Rima Vesely-Flad, guest editor of that issue, met Clark many years ago through a mutual mentor, Thea Jackson, who worked with Clark to start the college program at Bedford Hills Prison. Vesely-Flad, a visiting professor of public policy at Sarah Lawrence College, has since visited Clark many times and has brought her students to meet her and the women who live on the nursery unit where Clark is a volunteer, as well as to use her articles on motherhood in prison as part of her curriculum.
Vesely-Flad strongly encourages all to read the article in the Times and to take a few moments to respond — send a letter to the editor and/or post a comment, and forward this information to your networks to help generate enough momentum to move officials to act on Clark’s case. Another action that will support Clark is to directly write New York Governor Andrew Cuomo. To find out how to contact Governor Cuomo or other supportive actions, and to learn more about Judith Clark’s case, visit her web site.
[Ed. Note 2/1/12: This article was corrected to say “long-time New York City journalist Tom Robbins” from “best-selling author Tom Robbins” in recognition that there are two writers named Tom Robbins, and the Times article was written by the former columnist for the New York Daily News and Village Voice.]
