This March, Serena Martin – the leader of a nonprofit that supports imprisoned women – participated in a landmark community event to push for second chances for people behind bars.
The event was close to her heart. Martin was incarcerated when she was just 20 years old and served three years in prison.
On the stage, she marveled at the diverse life journeys of the speakers alongside her. She sat with a distinguished law professor, a Manhattan Criminal Court judge, the former superintendent of Sing Sing Correctional Facility and state commissioner, and fellow previously incarcerated persons.
As she looked out in the crowd, she saw family members who had had “loved ones ripped out of their arms by incarceration.” She saw a friend who had spent more than 25 years in prison. And she saw a community of students, faith leaders, and social justice advocates.
While everyone had a different path to be in the room, the participants held a common belief: Far too many people are serving extreme sentences in prison and deserve a second chance at freedom.
The event – titled the “Second Look Symposium” – was organized by leaders from Communities Not Cages (a statewide, grassroots movement in New York), Columbia Center for Justice, Center for Community Alternatives, and The Pillars of Promise. Union Theological Seminary served as both the host and a co-sponsor. Together, these partners championed the Second Look Act, allowing people serving extreme prison sentences to petition a judge for an early release.
Martin, who runs New Hour for Women and Children—Long Island, and fellow formerly incarcerated individuals – Wilfredo Laracuente, Patrick Stephens, and Mujahideen Muhammad – illustrated precisely why second chances are so important.
Laracuente, Stephens, and Muhammad spent over 20 years in prison and are now making a profound, positive impact in their communities.
Laracuente – a Work Readiness Instructor at Opportunities for a Better Tomorrow – is committed to advancing criminal legal reform and strengthening communities. He has strategized with local leaders on proposals to reduce gun violence, provided workforce instruction to young people, and helped connect formerly incarcerated people with jobs.
Patrick Stephens, meanwhile, is a Leadership Fellow at the Center for Community Alternatives and a powerful writer who aims to uplift people who have been incarcerated. While in prison, he completed a bachelor’s degree as well as a Master’s of Professional Studies (MPS), a program started in 1983 by New York Theological Seminary. It became a program offered by Union Theological Seminary after a merger between the two seminaries last year.
Mujahideen Muhammad is the founder of The Pillars of Promise – a landmark organization of previously incarcerated people who are dedicated to making positive contributions to communities. Muhammad is also a graduate of the MPS program, completing the program in 2024.
When Muhammad was released from prison, Geraldine Downey, Director of the Center for Justice at Columbia University, hired him as a research assistant. His first assignment was to research and write a report about second-look legislation.
For Downey, this research was of the utmost importance. She explained, “I’ve seen it time and time again: People emerge from prison with the skills, passion, and commitment to advance social justice and strengthen communities. Leaving these people behind bars is a travesty for both those individuals and society.”
Judge Marva Brown, who presides over cases in the Manhattan Criminal Court, echoed this sentiment in her remarks at the event. She shared that her grandmother had worked in corrections. As a child, Judge Brown heard stories of incarcerated women – and how her grandmother “mentored them, cared for them, and taught them to care for their babies while they were incarcerated.”
Those early years lit a fire in Judge Brown. She dedicated herself to advancing justice in our legal system – and is a staunch advocate of second chances for incarcerated people.
Robert Ricks, who also spoke at the event, desperately wishes that his son would have had such an opportunity. He’s the father of Robert Brooks, who was brutally beaten to death in prison by guards. While in prison, Brooks received a GED and a sign language certificate and took maintenance and horticulture classes. Brooks wanted nothing more than to come home and serve his community by mentoring young people. Ricks lamented the tragic loss of his son and the thousands of other lives claimed by an abusive incarceration system.
Steve Zeidman – professor of law at CUNY and co-director of the Second Look Project – and Brian Fischer – former New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (DOCCS) commissioner and superintendent of Sing Sing – also participated in a panel at the event. Noah Remnick, an organizer and lecturer at the Columbia University Center for Justice, led the panel.
Years ago, when Zeidman was serving as a public defender, he received a letter that changed his life. A lawyer reached out to Zeidman about a woman who was destined to die in prison. The lawyer was hoping to find a path for the woman to receive a second chance at freedom.
Zeidman searched far and wide and discovered that there was no clear way for the woman to earn a second chance.
So, he started to do clemency projects at CUNY. Ever since that initial case, Zeidman and his team have represented about 200 people serving “death by incarceration” sentences. More than 80 of these people have come home. Zeidman shared, “They are rebuilding, repairing families, communities, and society at large. They have so much to offer.”
Fischer, meanwhile, had a different journey to second-look advocacy. In the 1960s and 70s, he worked in a drug treatment program. Then, something changed: policymakers started treating drug addiction as a crime rather than a health issue. Prisons were flooded with people battling addiction. And sentences got longer and longer.
For Fischer, that didn’t sit right. It was clear that mass incarceration hurt individuals and their communities. He reflected, “One of the things that occurs when someone goes to prison is the breakup of the families. Society does not generally understand the trauma that occurs when somebody goes off to prison, and wives and husbands and children are left in the community. That’s a tremendous, negative impact on family structure.”
So Fisher started creating programs that would allow incarcerated people to learn new skills and reintegrate into society. And he has become one of New York’s fiercest advocates for second chances.
Garrett Smith, Statewide Organizer at the Center for Community Alternatives – which helped organize the symposium – called for action from policymakers in this moment. “Second look bills are gaining momentum with legislation passed in four states – Illinois, Louisiana, Maryland, Oregon – and the District of Columbia, and proposed in an additional 22 states. With support from New York’s Chief Judge, our former prison commissioner, the American Bar Association, and everyday New Yorkers, this is the year to pass this critical reform.”
Now, Union and its diverse partners are imploring legislators to advance and pass the Second Look Act. Doing so would free thousands of people, reunite families, and strengthen communities. And it would be a major step toward rectifying the injustices in our criminal legal system. To learn more about Communities Not Cages and New York’s Second Look Act, please visit www.communitiesnotcagesny.org.