In 1998, my husband, Architect David Madeira, and I bought a one acre neglected corner lot with a dilapidated bungalow. ​Until the 1700s, the site was  inhabited by Lenape Indians. In the early 1920’s, it was a recreational retreat for African-American communities. When we arrived, there were a few plants but the dominant energy emanated  from three massive oak trees.

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Over twenty five years later, I garden here year after year, refining and adding to a vision of color and contrast. In solitude, on this restorative property, I have the opportunity to think about the meaning of pardoning as the Ancients understood  it.  This noble practice has been violated by decades of politicization, resulting in decades of cruelty towards vulnerable people, among them rehabilitated prisoners.   

 

Besides being a place where I paint and live, I want the Pardon Garden to be a place where we the people can gather to think deeply about the true meaning of pardoning. I want us to contribute to the restoration of this practice as the highest form of justice that it is.

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My history with the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons began in 1988 when I taught painting in State Correctional Institutions.  I had access to a hidden culture.  I painted and recorded life-sentenced prisoners directly, witnessing a humanitarian crisis.

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Pennsylvania is one of a few states where all life-sentences are issued without parole. In all but a handful of states, a life-sentence is accompanied by a minimum sentence. Instead of typically serving the minimum sentence as a means of release, freedom depends upon the mercy of the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons and ultimately the Governor. Legions of rehabilitated prisoners who otherwise would have completed their minimum sentences are warehoused for decades, kneecapping not only them, but their families, communities, and, therefore, all of us.

In the early 1990’s I worked with the only person employed by the state correctional system to represent prisoners seeking pardon, primarily for life-sentences.  As the Director of the Arts and Humanities Program at the Pennsylvania Prison Society,  and inspired by the Pennsylvania Prison Society 1988 documentary Life-Sentence,  I initiated programs designed to bring visibility to lifers.  I visited Harrisburg over the period of one year, monthly, to observe the Pennsylvania Board of Pardons' activities.  I witnessed the devastation experienced by unforgiven and long rehabilitated prisoners.  Many of them were incarcerated as children, inhumanely trapped for decades. 

 

The Pardon Garden's close proximity by train makes it an egalitarian site where people can visit with the sole purpose of contemplating both the truth about  pardoning and strategies to restore this noble practice.  

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