NY Parole Of Former Black Panther Activist Who Murdered 2 Cops Sparks Reform Debate

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Anthony Bottom, who now goes by the name Jalil Muntaqim, was interviewed in New York state prison in 2018. He’s going home on parole after more than four decades behind bars.

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Diane Piagentini, widow of slain police officer Joseph Piagentini, holds a photo of her husband from their wedding day in 1966, after a parole hearing, Friday, Jan. 9, 2004 in New York, to ask that the killers of her husband and his partner not be released on parole. Officers Piagentini and Waverly Jones were killed in 1971 by members of the Black Liberation Army.

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On Sept. 11, New York’s parole board reversed itself, granting Bottom release. State officials declined to immediately release documents explaining their decision.

The move went unnoticed until the New York City police union issued a statement on Sept. 23 blasting the parole board, which in recent years has released more formerly violent offenders from prison, including men who attacked or killed police.

«We are furious with the cowards and lunatics who claim to lead this state, said Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Lynch in the statement. They have chosen to stand with the murderers, cold-blooded assassins and radicals bent on overthrowing our society.

The statement also included a statement from Denise Piagentini who said she was «heartbroken by the parole board’s decision.

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Reformers say elderly inmates should go home

But Jose Saldana, age 69, a former inmate who heads a prison reform project called Release Aging People in Prison, said he served time with Bottom and believes he has reformed.

«I found him to be one of the exceptional mentors within the New York state prison system, Saldana told NPR. «A lot of things happen in prison. Human beings transform their thinking and their behavior.

Studies show inmates age 65 and older, even those convicted of violent offenses, rarely commit new crimes after release.

Saldana was incarcerated for 38 years after a series of violent crimes, including an attack on a New York police sergeant, and was paroled two years ago.

He believes New York’s parole board, which has grown more racially diverse in recent years, is working better now, allowing elderly inmates to leave prison.

«Instead of being dominated by law enforcement, which it had been for decades or so, the [parole] commissioners today have a more diversified background, Saldana said. «We have social workers, members of the clergy, we have teachers.

Bottom’s release comes at a moment of intense debate and street protests around the country over questions of policing, race and criminal justice reform.

Meanwhile, more than a dozen Black activists from the ’60s and ’70s are still behind bars around the U.S. many serving time for attacking police. All are now senior citizens.