Last week, President Joe Biden sat down with Hudson Link Alumnus Jon-Adrian “JJ” Velazquez to discuss criminal legal reform and college in prison as part of NowThis presidential forum.
A formerly incarcerated activist, JJ Velaquez, was granted clemency in 2021 after spending 23 years in prison. Now, he spends his time on the outside fighting for an equitable criminal legal system. As Program Director for The Frederick Douglass Project for Justice, he was also featured in NowThis segment Inside the Fight for an Equitable Criminal Legal System earlier was week. Powerfully, he opened the segment with:
“How would we feel as a country if an airline, 50% of the times it took off, crashed? Would we allow that airline to exist? But we allow the criminal legal system to exist. More than 50% of individuals released for their facilities crash within the first three years.”
We’re proud of JJ and his work to change the public perspective on incarceration, ensuring the world knows that “punishment alone is not enough to rehabilitate
I really enjoyed the discussion that JJ Velazquez had with President Joe Biden. I am very sorry that JJ spent twenty three years in prison for a crime that he did not commit. President Biden needs to create an Executive Order that challenges Governors to release innocent people from state prisons. President Biden has power to forces states to allocate money for drug treatment and education. This is why myself and other people need to continue supporting Hudson Link financially. Politicians do not have the solutions to mass incarceration. Men and women in prison must implement their own solutions to these social problems that affects us all. Thank you.