Two Turkeys Versus Thousands of People
By Ann Espuelas
This week, a pair of turkeys will be enjoying the amenities at the swanky Willard Hotel in Washington, D.C., in anticipation of the country’s annual presidential “Turkey Pardon.” Two lucky gobblers will appear on live TV, in front of the White House, and receive the gift of freedom.
For people in prison, the event has always evoked a difficult combination of emotions. FAMM staff member Debi Campbell, who served more than 16 years in federal prison, describes how she and her friends in prison would gather around the television and watch as presidents proclaimed the chosen turkeys to be officially pardoned from death by dinner table.
“We would be sitting in the TV room, waiting and watching and thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, is he going to do some real people pardons and commutations — or just the turkeys?’ And so year after year, we all would gather and wait and be like, ‘What about us? We’re human.’”
Debi watched as Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and then Barack Obama granted what she and every woman locked up with her badly wanted: a second chance. Many of them had clemency petitions pending, and when those applications were denied, they’d refile, year after year. The event was a break in the prison monotony, but mostly it was bittersweet and ridiculous.
This year, it’s happening again. The Willard Hotel is preparing a turkey-friendly room, and people in prison will tune in when President Biden makes the official proclamation. But this year, the event holds an even more troubling significance for the roughly 4,500 people released during the pandemic to home confinement under the CARES Act. They were sent home with the understanding that as long as they followed all the rules, they would not return to prison. They reunited with their families, got steady jobs, and prepared to follow the rules and live productive lives.
But then a memo issued in the final days of the Trump administration came to light, saying they would be sent back to prison at the end of the pandemic. Since then, they and their families have lived under a dark cloud of extreme uncertainty. Cheryl Johnson, a mother of three, says, “Every day, you just worry. It’s awful.”
Shari Natysin is pregnant, and her anxiety is through the roof. “I’m constantly googling ‘when is the pandemic emergency over,’ because that’s when I have to go back. As if there’s an actual date I can steel myself for, even though I know there isn’t one.”
The Biden administration has said that they are considering clemency for many of the people under the OLC memo cloud, but the criteria they have announced is quite narrow and will exclude many, including Antwan Jones. He has a great job and is focused on successful reentry. But Antwan worries deeply about the impact being sent back to prison would have on his fragile but improving relationship with his kids. “They were 8 and 2 when I went in. Losing them a second time would seal the deal on any hopes of my fatherhood being a positive experience for them. I need to be there for them.”
One thing is for sure: The Biden administration’s proposal for who gets clemency and who doesn’t, based on arbitrary criteria, has nothing to do with public safety. Cheryl, Shari, Antwan, and thousands of others were already painstakingly vetted, then deemed the lowest of low-risk by Attorney General Barr.
President Biden, this Thanksgiving, please think beyond two turkeys. There are thousands of people and their families looking to you to do the right thing. Do the humane thing for humans — not just birds.
Want to speak up for people over turkeys? Join FAMM in Lafayette Park on Tuesday, November 23, from 1–3 p.m. for our rally! RSVP at this link or by texting GOBBLE to 21333.
Ann Espuelas is FAMM’s Director of Family Outreach and Storytelling.
