Every advocacy campaign starts with a spark—an injustice so glaring it demands action. For the people sentenced to lifetime parole under Pataki’s policy changes, that spark came when their parole officers told them, plainly: you will never be discharged. That’s when the organizing began.

The Ad Hoc Committee on Lifetime Parole formed to take on the fight. Comprised of people living under lifetime supervision, they began by mapping out possible strategies:

• Litigation – A challenge under the U.S. Constitution’s Ex Post Facto Clause. But court battles are long, expensive, and uncertain.
• Media Campaign – Modeled after the “Drop the Rock” campaign, but too risky for their circumstances given potential media distortion.
• Legislative Advocacy – The most viable path: return to the Legislature to change the law.

➡ Read Part 3: Strategy in Action »