Clemency Without Freedom: New York’s Growing Divide Between Pardons and Commutations
Why the Clemency Rally Matters
This is exactly why the Clemency Rally matters.
This is bigger than a rally. It is bigger than a stage, a microphone, a sign, or a single afternoon of protest. This is about forcing New York to confront the human beings who remain behind its prison walls while their families continue waiting for mercy to become action.
The numbers tell us why our voices are necessary.
As of May 8, 2026, Governor Kathy Hochul's own office reported 139 clemency grants since she took office—119 pardons and only 20 commutations. In that May round, the Governor granted 19 pardons and zero commutations. Her office stated that the pardon recipients had already successfully served their sentences, in most cases many years earlier.
Those individuals deserve their second chances. But so do deserving people who are still waiting behind the wall.
That is why we rally.
We rally for the mother whose son has transformed his life but still has decades left to serve.
We rally for the children who have grown into adults waiting for their fathers to come home.
We rally for the incarcerated men and women who have earned degrees, mentored others, accepted responsibility, found purpose, served their communities from inside prison and spent decades proving that a human being is more than the worst chapter of their life.
We rally because rehabilitation should not suddenly become worthy of recognition only after someone is already home.
We rally because clemency must be more than a statistic in a press release. It must remain a meaningful constitutional instrument capable of recognizing extraordinary transformation and, in deserving cases, creating a pathway toward freedom.
119 pardons. 20 commutations.
That disparity is precisely why New Yorkers must show up, stand together and demand that incarcerated clemency applicants are not forgotten.
We are not asking government to erase accountability.
We are asking government to recognize humanity.
We are asking Governor Hochul to look beyond DIN numbers, convictions and decades-old court records and examine the people those individuals have become.
This rally is for every family that has waited.
For every application that represents a human life.
For every incarcerated person who has done the difficult work of transformation while wondering whether anyone outside those walls will ever acknowledge it.
And for every New Yorker who believes that redemption must mean something while there is still time for it to change a life.
That is why we march.
That is why we rally.
That is why we raise our voices.
Because clemency should not merely recognize redemption after freedom.
Clemency should have the courage to create the possibility of freedom.
Source
Office of Governor Kathy Hochul, May 8, 2026 — “Governor Hochul Grants Clemency to Nineteen Individuals.” The Governor's official announcement reports 19 pardons in that round and a cumulative total of 119 pardons and 20 commutations since Hochul took office.