The Governor of California has granted an emergency release to Patricia Wright, a 69-year-old woman fighting terminal cancer inside a prison that has suffered a major outbreak.
Wright, who doctors say is months old, was released from prison Tuesday morning for the first time in 23 years, greeted by her five children, three sisters, and a dozen other family members who were waiting outside the doors of the California Institution for Women. (CIW), east of Los Angeles. The family’s long struggle for their release became increasingly urgent because of Covid-19, which has infected more than 160 people in CIW and nearly 7,000 people across the state’s prison system.
“I’ve been waiting for this day for 23 years, it’s really indescribable,” said Wright, standing on the street outside CIW as her grandchildren and other loved ones hugged her and handed her flowers and gifts, including her first iPhone. She danced and raised her hands in the air. “Oh my god! I’m walking on cloud nine … I just want to sit at the table with my family and hug my kids.”
Wright, who has battled breast and ovarian cancer and is legally blind, is receiving chemotherapy. She spoke of her fears of dying alone behind bars in recent interviews with The Guardian, and is one of the tens of thousands of elderly and at-risk prisoners who have been calling for some form of clemency in response to Covid-19. Since March, 40 prisoners have died and those numbers are expected to increase in the coming weeks.
“For the past 23 years, I have had this burden on my heart every day. I couldn’t live completely thinking about my sister in prison, ”said Chantel Bonet, who years earlier had moved to the city of Corona, where the prison is located, so that she could be closer to her sister. “Now that burden is lifted.”
Wright, a survivor of domestic violence, was accused of hiring someone to kill her abusive husband, but has maintained her innocence. She is one of the many women convicted of murder under US law who have faced widespread scrutiny for attacking victims of abuse. She was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, which means that this type of direct action by the governor was her only option.
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