Back in the United States, the New York State Parole Board has denied parole to prisoner Judith Clark, who drove a getaway car during a 1981 robbery in Rockland County that left a security guard and two police officers dead. The robbery was aimed at expropriating money from a Brink’s armored car for the Republic of New Afrika.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo commuted Clark’s sentence earlier this year, making her eligible for parole. But on Friday, the board said Clark was “still a symbol of violent and terroristic crime.” In response, Clark’s daughter, Harriet Clark, said, “Parole decisions that fail to take rehabilitation into account are their own kind of violence and create their own kind of terror. My mother is not a symbol, but the dysfunctional and merciless Parole Board is, unfortunately, a symbol of the racism, classism, and immorality rampant in our criminal justice system.”