The D'Alliance: Personal Views on Drug Policy

PARDON POWER: Papa: Life After ClemencyPardon Power

Thursday, June 15, 2017

PARDON POWER: Papa: Life After Clemency Pardon Power



This Side of Freedom: Life After Clemency is a riveting,
compelling tale about the life of activist, writer and artist Anthony
Papa. He tells firsthand of his experience of returning home after
serving 12 years of a 15-to-life sentence for a non-violent drug crime
sentenced under the mandatory provisions of the Rockefeller Drug Laws of
New York State. In 1997 he was granted executive clemency by New York
Governor George Pataki.



Papa says that the freedom he fought so hard to get, smacked him swiftly
in the face, overpowering him. He struggles with his freedom while
fighting to free those he left behind. Papa goes through heart-wrenching
trials and tribulations as he seeks to end the war on drugs. Along the
way he meets an array of individuals from famous movie stars to
politicians and the very rich, enlisting their help in doing away with
mass incarceration and draconian sentencing laws that have destroyed
America's criminal justice