Survivor Chronicles: Free Them All

Survivor Chronicles: Tami and LaQuintae's Story

As a heads up, this episode contains mentions of sexual violence, suicide, and abuse. In 2025, Tami Eldridge—who’s 25 years into a sentence of 57 to life—was invited to speak at Chief Judge Rowan Wilson’s State of the Judiciary. When she found out they wanted her to attend in person and wear a suit, she initially balked: “I'm not putting on no fake face, like I'm gonna go home one day.” But after speaking to her daughter LaQuintae Bradley on the phone, she had a change of heart. LaQuintae wanted to see her mother dressed up, in nice clothes. Tami reconsidered, “I think I need to wear the clothes so they'll know what I look like before I die and be in a coffin and wear a real suit.” This is one of the countless ways Tami and her eldest daughter LaQuintae have reached for each other over the years. This episode tells the story of how against all odds, miles apart and separated by prison walls, they formed a profound and loving relationship even though Tami has been incarcerated since LaQuintae was 4 years old. Or as LaQuintae puts it, how they’ve learned to walk the walk of incarceration together. Inside prison, Tami is revered. She runs a step team for college students, built a library, teaches nutrition, and is earning her second master’s degree. She started a journey of personal transformation in large part motivated by her desire to show up for her children and other women at Bedford as a mother and mentor. Not out of a desire to win her own freedom, at least not at first: “I know that I might never leave Bedford Hills, but others will, and so I help everyone…I am choosing my own way in a place where I was sent to die. I choose to do things to try to repair the harm that I have caused and to love my daughters and to lift up others.” Since the State of the Judiciary, however, hearing how her story has inspired so many others and seeing her daughter’s faith in a future for her outside of prison, Tami is beginning to envision a future beyond Bedford Hills for herself. She’s imagining freedom. And she’s working on a clemency application. Without a commutation from the Governor, she won’t be eligible for parole until she’s 83 in 2056. But Governor Hochul could release Tami today, with the stroke of a pen. *  Watch [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dA1GJu9-Ov4&t=3490s] Tami speak at the 2025 State of the Judiciary. * Learn more about LaQuintae’s business here [https://www.lqopaocc.net/]. * Read more about Tami’s case and sign [https://clemencycollective.com/tami-eldridge] her petition for clemency. Written by Linda Luu, Nathan Yaffe, and Jade Abdul-Malik. Produced and narrated by Jade Abdul-Malik.

Survivor Chronicles: Sara's Story

As a heads up, this episode contains discussions of sexual abuse/assault, self-harm, and domestic abuse. Sara Kielly is a trans woman and criminalized survivor serving a 25 years to life sentence at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility. From inside, Sara works as a journalist and a jailhouse lawyer, speaking out on prisoners’ rights and advocating for herself and her peers. In this episode, Sara tells her own story about how the sexual and physical abuse she suffered starting from an early age and later in her intimate relationship ultimately led to the incident for which she was criminalized. Growing up, Sara’s gender expression made her a target. Sara’s story shows how incarceration further compounds the violence that trans people are subjected to and the abuse that survivors suffer prior to incarceration.  Sara’s clemency application has been sitting on Governor Kathy Hochul’s desk since 2021. Despite support from the Sylvia Rivera Law Project, Legal Aid, the Osborne Association, Parole Preparation Project, and Senator Julia Salazar, Sara seeks clemency from the Governor to return to her family— both biological and chosen. * Read Sara’s reporting on the HALT Solitary Act here [https://nysfocus.com/2024/09/25/halt-solitary-violations-bedford-hills-prison]. * Read the essay "Building an Abolitionist Trans and Queer Movement with Everything We've Got" [https://www.deanspade.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/Building-an-Abolitionist-Trans-Queer-Movement-With-Everything-Weve-Got.pdf] by Morgan Bassichis, Alexander Lee, and Dean Spade * Read Survived and Punished’s report, “Punished by Design: The Criminalization of Trans & Queer Incarcerated Survivors [https://survivedandpunished.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/PunishedByDesign_FINAL-2.pdf]” If you enjoy this episode, please like and subscribe. We'll be releasing episodes bi-weekly about survivors in our mass clemency campaign, and we'll have occasional episodes stepping back for history and context from organizers and leaders fighting the criminalization of survival. Written by Linda Luu and Jade Abdul-Mallik. Produced by Jade Abdul-Mallik. Photo courtesy of Sara Kielly.

Survivor Chronicles: A Conversation with Mariame Kaba

In this bonus episode, co-founder of Survived and Punished Mariame Kaba speaks to two S&P NY organizers, Senora (Nori) and Sojourner. This conversation was held virtually, so you may hear some audio glitches. There is mention of domestic and sexual violence. Mariame talks about how S&P was formed to center survivor politics and the abolition of policing and prisons, the carceral feminism of politicians like Governor Kathy Hochul, white feminist respectability in pro-survivor spaces, what this current administration represents and how to orient ourselves within it to win.  Mariame Kaba is an organizer, educator, archivist and curator. Her work focuses on ending violence, dismantling the prison-industrial complex and supporting youth leadership development. She is the founder and director of Project NIA, a grassroots organization with a vision to end youth incarceration. She is the author of We Do This 'Til We Free Us, Let This Radicalize You (with Kelly Hayes), and several other books and zines. Senora L. Rudolph is a Survived & Punished NY organizer with a Master of Administration in Justice-Involved Care; a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology - Marymount Manhattan College; and an A.A.S. in Paralegal Studies, an American Bar Association approved curriculum. Her research interests include global education and the social determinants of health relating involvement in the legal system. Sojourner Rivers is a Black feminist and abolitionist who organizes with survivors of patriarchal and state violence. If you enjoy this episode, please like and subscribe. Check out our other episodes to learn more about the criminalized survivors in S&P NY seeking clemency in New York State.  Writing and producing by Jade Abdul-Malik. Episode artwork by Mon M.

Survivor Chronicles: Taliyah's Story

As a heads up, this episode contains discussions of domestic violence and child sexual abuse.  Taliyah Taylor had to handle more as a young person than most people do in several lifetimes. Her father abused her mother and brother, then he was murdered. She experienced child sexual abuse from multiple people. All this happened by the time she was 12. Many members of her family struggled with drug addiction, so as she became a teenager, she took on caregiving responsibilities, stepping in for family members who were incarcerated or simply unable to provide for their young. So Taliyah had no choice but to become the caregiver herself. She was the rock—the backstop—for everyone else, doing everything she could to make sure others received the care she was denied. Through it all, she grew up really fast. Too fast, and without time to process her own traumatic experiences—the violence and abuse she had suffered, the grief of loss and family separation from violence, drugs, and incarceration. Eventually, it all caught up with her. She developed her own issues with addiction and couldn't get the mental health treatment she needed. Then, one night in her early 20s, she had a mental breakdown. Disassociating and on several drugs, she drove, speeding through the streets of Staten Island, and then got into a horrible crash that claimed one life and injured two others. Somehow, despite having been incarcerated for nearly 20 years since that night, Taliyah remains the rock and the backstop for people in her family. She is the one who speaks directly about the things no one else can name. She's the one who tries to make sure everyone's needs are met. But she's been doing it from behind bars for too long, and her family needs her more every day. Taliyah's incarceration has left an unfillable hole, and her family can't heal from it—not really—until she's home with them. Everyone in her family longs for breaking what they call their "generational curse." And everyone sees Taliyah's homecoming as central to that project.  * Read more about Taliyah's story here [https://hellgatenyc.com/incarcerated-women-hochul-clemency/].  * Read Prison Policy's piece, "Both sides of the bars: How mass incarceration punishes families [https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2022/08/11/parental_incarceration/]." * Read Ella Baker Center's Report, "Who Pays? The True Cost of Incarceration on Families. [https://static.prisonpolicy.org/scans/who-pays%20Ella%20Baker%20report.pdf]" If you enjoy this episode, please like and subscribe. We'll be releasing episodes bi-weekly about survivors in our mass clemency campaign, and we'll have occasional episodes stepping back for history and context from organizers and leaders fighting the criminalization of survival. Writing and producing by Jade Abdul-Malik. Episode artwork featuring shirts made by Taliyah's family for Survived & Punished NY's event, Perpetual Punishment: Criminalized Survivorship in Kathy Hochul's New York.

Survivor Chronicles: Assia's Story

This is Assia Serrano's story. Assia is a mother, an immigrant, and a criminalized survivor who served 17 years for her survival actions. She was resentenced and released under the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act, only for New York to hand her off to ICE for deportation to Panama. She needs a pardon to reunite with her family in the US. As this story makes clear, she has consistently put her family first, fighting to show up for them in every way she can—even from behind bars and even after her deportation. In the meantime, she advocates for and organizes with survivors facing criminalization, immigrant survivors, and mothers behind bars. Assia's story reveals how the immigration system often imposes a second punishment on survivors, after their criminal punishment is complete. In Assia's case, this second punishment was in some ways more devastating, because it meant she couldn't be around her family—maybe permanently. But Assia will never give up fighting to be there for her two kids, her mom, and everyone else who counts on her. So we shouldn't either. * Read more about Assia's story here [https://documentedny.com/2022/04/18/this-law-is-supposed-to-reunite-imprisoned-survivors-with-their-families-did-it-lead-to-one-womans-deportation/].  * Read Assia's analysis of how her experience illustrates the failures of the laws meant to protect survivors—at least when it comes to the specific needs of immigrant survivors—here [https://academicworks.cuny.edu/clr/vol26/iss1/2/]. * Read the letter from 36 lawmakers demanding Hochul grant her a pardon [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1uxPacEzijjn-UGS77azpoh5Il1dbaQAK/view?usp=sharing]. * Sign her pardon petition [https://bit.ly/PardonAssiaPetition]. If you enjoy this episode, please like and subscribe. We'll be releasing episodes bi-weekly about survivors in our mass clemency campaign, and we'll have occasional episodes stepping back for history and context from organizers and leaders fighting the criminalization of survival. Writing and producing by Jade Abdul-Malik. Episode artwork photography by Sara Bennett (pictured: Assia with her children and her dog in Panama when her children first visited her, more than 3 years after her deportation. From left to write: Giovanni, Assia, and Omar. Assia's dog Bella is in the front).