Lawrence Hayes, was arrested in 1972 at the age of 19 and sentenced to death for the murder of a police officer in which he maintains his innocence. He spent 20 years in New York prisons, more than two of them on death row. A long-time community activist, Hayes was a member of the Division of Social Services of the Black Panther Party in New York City. He helped to administer the division' s breakfast program for children in the Ocean Hill-Brownsville section of New York. Hayes was arrested in 1972 and sentenced to death for a murder he did not commit. Court decision at the federal and state level vacated his death sentence in November 1974.

While in prison, Hayes remained an activist with the South 40 Cadre and the Exodus Cadre. He taught African-American history to other prisoners. In 1992, Hayes was awarded a masters degree from New York Theological Seminary, earning most of his credits in prisons. Since his release in 1992, Hayes has been an activist against the death penalty, touring colleges and communities around the world. He is a member of the Transnational Radical Party. He helped to introduce at the United Nations a resolution calling fir an international moratorium on the death penalty.

At the end of April 1998 after having led a model parolee's life for six and a half years he was thrown back in jail for a minor parole violation.

It seems that Hayes is the victim of election-year politics. He is one of many parolees who have been jailed in recent weeks for the most minor parole infractions as a result of a memorandum handed down by Pataki's Commissioner of the Board of Parole, Byron White.

Please send a letter of protest to this address:

Byron Travis

Chairman, NYS Board of Parole

97 Central Ave. Albany, NY 12206

and fax a copy to The Campaign to End the Death Penalty. Attn: Ms. Joan Parkin at 212-650-5309

Here is a sample of the letter

Dear Sir:

I am writing on behalf of Lawrence Hayes. I understand he has been detained in the Brooklyn House of Detention since Tuesday, April 28, for an alleged violation of his parole.

Lawrence has been meeting with his parole officer for the last six and a half years, and he has never had his parole revoked before. In fact, he has committed himself to helping people in his community ever since he was released from prison, both through his job as a teen counselor and his efforts as an anti-death penalty activist. He has also put a great deal of time and energy into providing a stable, loving, nurturing environment for his daughter, who is now four year of age.

Lawrence is of much greater use to society outside of prison than he could be in prison. I urge you to do everything in your power to see that Lawrence be released as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

If you like to know about who Lawrence Hayes is and what he did and what he has been doing since his release, please scroll down

The Campaign To End The Death Penalty

20A 74h Avenue, #6

Brooklyn, NY 11217

(212) 330-7056 Tel

(212) 650-5309 Fax

JUSTICE FOR LAWRENCE HAYES

Monday, June 1, 1998,

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Campaign to End The Death Penalty needs your financial support. Enclosed you will find a copy of our " Open letter." This letter will be, published as part of our Free Lawrence Hayes signature campaign on a full page ad in the Village Voice. To cover the cost of the ad and to build a successful fight against the death penalty in New York State, The Campaign needs money. Those who contribute will be listed beneath the open letter as sponsors of the Free Lawrence Hayes Campaign in the Village Voice advertisement.

You of course have the option of making a contribution, without your name appearing in the signature add. Just inform us that you wish to have your name omitted.

Please be generous and give as much as you can. The death penalty must be opposed and those who speak out against capital punishment, like Lawrence Hayes, must not be persecuted unchallenged.

Please make checks payable to The Campaign To End The Death Penalty.

In Solidarity,

Joan Parkin

Campaign To End The Death Penalty

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

The Campaign To End the Death Penalty needs your endorsement and active support. We are trying to free former Black Panther and one-time death row inmate, Lawrence Hayes from Rikers' Island Correctional Facility.

Lawrence's arrest is most likely due to a state-wide election year crack down on parolees. Yet, the fact that he is a former Black Panther and a prominent, vocal activist against New York's first death penalty case in 15 Years makes him a special target.

For the past two months the Campaign has been organazing against Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes' effort to seek the death penalty in the case of Darell Harris. Hynes is preparing to run against Gorge Pataki for governor, and would very much like this historic case under his belt.

Lawrence was picked up just three, days after he appeared on the cover of a Brooklyn newspaper along with Norman Siegel at a Campaign press conference during jury selection of the Darrell Harris trial and was the only person quoted in Daily News article about the trial.

In the, early 1970s, like many other Black Panthers, Lawrence was the target of a frame-up for the murder of a police officer. He spent two years on death row until a Supreme Court moratorium on capital punishment in 1972 meant than in 1974 his death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment.

After 18 years Lawrence was granted an early release and has since lived a model parolee's life, working as a teen counselor, an intern at the United Nations and raising his four year old daughter

For 6 and 1/2 years he maintained an excellent relationship with his parole officer. Then, in a complete reversal, his parole officer said Lawrence would have to check in every day. When Lawrence said that would be impossible with a child and a full time job she declared him in Violation Of his parole and recommitted him to The Brooklyn House of Detention.

On the night of May 13, after the Campaign held a demonstration outside the Brooklyn Correctional Facility, the Emergency Response Unit sent Lawrence to Rikers' Island Correctional Facility. He could face years in jail.

Your help brings us one step closer to stopping this brutal repressive attack on free speech against the death penalty. A solid majority of New York City residents are against the death penalty, but we can't reach, them alone. You can help by participating in any or all of the following:

1 Call and give your group endorsement to the Free Lawrence Hayes Committee.

2. Write to Byron Travis, Chairman, NYS Board Of Parole, 97 Central Ave. Albany, NY 12206, urging him to release Lawrence Hayes and critics the changes in parole policy.

3. Attend the next free Lawrence Hayes organizing meeting, Friday, May 29 at 7:30 pm at NYU, Main Building, 4th floor.

4. Make a financial contribution. (make check payable to The Campaign To End The Death Penalty)

With your help and the help of others Lawrence will not be silenced.

In solidarity,

Joan Parkin

The Campaign To End Death Penalty.

FREE LAWRENCE HAYES COMMITTEE

An open letter to New York City.

To the greater Communities:

In the middle of the night on May 13, members of the Emergency Response Unit at the Brooklyn House of Detention roused Lawrence Hayes and forced him out of his cell. After an interrogation with an officer at the House, Lawrence was relocated to Rikers Island, where he was placed in the Special Segregation Unit. This section is notorious for the brutality of the prison guards, who control it.

This was just the latest chapter in a bizarre turn of events for Hayes. Just over two weeks ago, Hayes was thrown into jail for a minor parole violation. This came after he had led a model parolee's life for six and a half years. He had not only held a number of jobs where he counseled teens in job placement and life skills, but he also secured a position as an intern in for the United Nations. At the time of his incarceration, he was working as a Job Developer and Case Manager at the Colony Direct Youth Placement Program.

Hayes had also been a doting father to his daughter since her birth four years ago. His incarceration has of course prevented him form seeing her over the past two weeks.

Hayes had already spent twenty years as an inmate in New York State's prison system. He spent the first two years of his sentence on death row, until a Supreme Court moratorium on capital punishment in 1972 produced a change in state laws. This decision meant that his sentence was changed to 20 years to life in 1974.

Hayes was sent to jail because he was a member of the Black Panther Party in the early 1970s. Like many of his comrades from the Party, he was made the target of a frame-up for the murder of a police officer.

What terrifies him about being locked up this time is not only the seeming arbitrariness of it all but the idea of missing out on his daughter's childhood as well. Hayes had a toddler when he was sent to prison in 1972, and he was prevented from developing a relationship with her throughout her childhood and adolescence. He has been committed to preventing such a separation from occurring again.

It is politics again that has made Hayes the target of police repression. On May 13 about 40 activists attended a peaceful protest to express their outrage over his incarceration and offer their support. The Captain who interrogated Hayes reportedly told him that he had to be placed in the Segregation Unit because a bunch of his friends had shown up to "bust him out" of the jail.

It seems that Hayes may also be the victim of election year politics. He is one of many parolees who have been jailed in recent weeks for the most minor parole infractions as a result of memorandum handed down by Gov. George Pataki's Commissioner of the Board of Parole, Byron Travis. Travis has demanded that parole officers begin jailing their charges for violations of their parole agreements. As Pataki gears up for reelection get tough on crime will be his campaign staple.

In addition, Hayes has been prominent, vocal activist against Brooklyn DA Charles Hynes' effort to seek the death penalty against Darell Harris, "he would be the first death penalty case to go to trial in New York State in 15 years. Hynes is preparing to run against Pataki for governor, and want to be able to have this historic case under his belt. Keeping Hayes locked up and quiet as this trial proceeds is naturally in Hynes' best interests. It is crucial that everyone who cares about justice should demand freedom for Lawrence Hayes

LAWRENCE HAYES' SPEECH AT A CONFERENCE ON DEATH PENALY HELD IN 1995 AT HARWARD UNIVERSITY

Well, first, let me say, it's an honor and privilege to be here. I' ve heard a lot about Harvard. Hopefully this generation of students will change what the last one created. Talking about the death penalty, I' m reminded of Calvary. What happened on Calvary is that Jesus Christ was put to death. I' m reminded of a very wise man named Socrates who was put to death for his opinion. I' m reminded of Richard Wright' s Native Son. Bigger Thomas was a victim of ignorance and racism of a society that neglected and abused him, and misused him. This is what my story is about. I' m going to tell you what happened. You won't hear our government come out and confess it.

I was member of the Black Panther Party. By the way, power to the people! I was a member of the Black Panther Party. I was a young guy back then, still am. So, you know, I didn't carry my banners and mess with guns and all. I was told to go out and set up breakfast programs, clothing programs and I had a martial arts program after school, an after-school program in Ocean Hill-Brownsvile. Back in 1968-69, about seven or eight kids died of ODs [drug overdoses] - junior high school kids. We were young guys. We decided we were going to rid the community of drugs. We went out and that' s what we started doing.

Next thing, you know, six months down the line, a guy comes up to us who wants to introduce us to a guy who just got out of prison who used to be a courier for the Mafioso drug rings. This guy came in, he started setting things up. We used to go in, we would kick the door in, we used to catch them when they had the drugs and the money. We used to take their drugs and throw it down the toilet bowl. This guy always wanted to get the drugs and put it back out there. We had to tell this guy, "No, that' s not what this is about. You want some money? Okay, here's the money."

Then, in 1971, we went on this particular stake-out. We were basically on a stake-out in Queens. Two people went in to do surveillance and, next thing you know, we heard gunshots. I went in to the place where this was taking place. One of my partners brushed against me. He was shot in the arm. I looked in, I saw this other guy standing up in plain clothes and he had a bullet hole in his head and he fell. One thing led to another. My friend fell and I reached from him, and all hell broke loose. There was a tree in front of me and it looked like it nearly exploded. Police were everywhere, and they were shooting at us.

I got away, somehow, by some means. I got arrested at the Canadian border. I was beaten. The next thing, you know, I' m sitting in a court room, people are saying things I don't understand. I didn't know anything about legal jargon. i know it now, but I didn't any of it then. It was an all-white jury, all male, average age 55, out of Queens County. For those of you who know history, that is something to reckon with.

I was a young kid and I didn't believe that they could convict me of murder, because I didn't kill anyone. I got convicted of murder. Second of all, I didn't believe any group of adults could sentence two kids, 19 years old, to death - me and my nephew. But they did it.

A year after I was in the death house, the district attorney in my case was disbarred for taking bribes from organized criminals. A year and half after I was in prison, the judge in my case was cited in a New York Times Magazine article as being on of the 10 worst judges in New York state because of his favoritism to organized criminals. Further investigation showed that the lawyer that was assigned to me was a lawyer who frequently had clients in organized crime. And our legal system says nope, that does not work [to prove my innocence]. You have to go and you have to find some sort of conspiracy. How am I going to do that? I was sitting in the death house cell. Seventeen years later. I get a package from some conscientious person in [New York] state department. It said that the guy that was setting all this stuff up was on the payroll of the F.B.I.

One thing I didn't mention: The comrade of mine who got shot at the scene, who got shot in the arm - it was not a fatal wound. But yet he died, he turned up dead. When we read the autopsy report, he had a hole in his head the size of a grapefruit and every bone in his body was broken - his ribs, his collar bone.

He was bruised. That's how he died. That means when the police arrived on the scene, they kicked him and stomped him and beat him to death.

That is American policemen. Our government is probably the most violent entity on the face of the earth. Our government responds to us with violence. I remember, over a ears ago, down in the Village [Greenwich Village, New York], a group of people, homeless people - and these were mainly white people - had decided that they wanted to take one of these old, dilapidated and abandoned building and so do something with it. And they did that. And guess what happened? Our government wanted them out! So what did they do? They sent in riot police with a tank. That is the response of our government to you. They should have sent in a bunch of counselors, or a bunch of architects - to help them. [Applause]

I' m against crime. I don't believe that we should be going around knocking each other upside the head, and stuff like that. That' s basically not right. It's not a part of the real social process. Although, if you look at the cartoons that most of our children are indoctrinated with, they teach "If you want'em to do the right thing, hit'em upside the head. Beat'em up, blow'em up." Ever see the Roadrunner? Jeez. Don't mess with Animaniacs!

I encourage people to read Native Son. Read Socrates and Plato's dialogues - the dialogue between Socrates and Plato. That is very interesting document. I think what both of those documents do is to point to and reveal the underlying currents of our government's use of violence and death as the ultimate expression of its power. The power that we give it. I think it underlines our government's arbitrary and capricious exercise of its power to silence voices of difference, to erase its wholesale negligence of social nurturing. Governments are actually our mothers and fathers, all in one. And this is how they're teaching us how to respond to each other.

One reason why I joined the Panther Party was because policemen back in the 60's were terrorists. They used to come in, kick in your door, if they were after your brother or sister, they'd knock down your mother and beat you up. If you were a little kid, they'd kick you. That's what happened. I mean, "no knock" laws meant "no knock." I mean, they didn't knock. They kicked in doors.

But now that I think about it, policemen are human, just like you and I. They are our neighbors. But something happens to them when they go through the police academy. They're your homeboys and your homegirls before. But when they go in there, there's something they do to them. Now you're their enemy. You're their potential enemy. They're looking over their shoulders at you. So, I think that a part of this campaign has to be reverse psychology. I think that we have to reeducate police to let them know, "You're just like me. I'm like you. We are all in this struggle together."

But I think another thing that these two books can reveal is that our government attempts to whitewash its ignorance of people's needs and the desperate cries of people for life, for justice and equality. In New York state, which recently re-instituted the death penalty, the last real study done - which was in 1991 - revealed that 73 percent of the people favored life in prison without parole and some restitution to the families of murdered victims [over executions].

Another thing is the international scene. I'm part of what's called the Transnational Radical Party. What is going on is that we have a resolution in the United Nations which calls for a moratorium on the death penalty in the year 2000 throughout the world. The United States is a contributing force in trying to prevent that. There're putting pressure on certain countries to vote against it. They are trying to block it from getting to the floor. This is what our country is doing. I would hope that we would become interested in that. Courts around the world are refusing to extradite defendants to America because of its stance on capital punishment. Some of them are Australia, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland, England. And in case you don't know, we are the only Western country that actually has the death penalty. I was just in Rome, Italy last year, '95, and I was surprised to find that none of the European countries had the death penalty. So we're isolated in that sense also.

Last but not least, I would just like to say that there's a new argument on the horizon. That new argument is that we have enough death. We have enough death. We have AIDS, we have heart-attacks, we have accidents. I mean, there's enough death in our society for us to be going around promoting the death penalty, for the state to be involved in it. We have cancer. We have accidents. We have suicides. We have war. We have street murders. We are now a nation about death.

We should be a nation of healers. We should be the champions of life. I encourage each and every one of you to hold on to life and try to promote life wherever you go. If you can do that, you're supporting this movement. And I thank you again for being here.