Second Look Project NY

Second Look Project NY’s mission is to rectify the massive sentences that fuel mass incarceration so that countless people are no longer condemned to spend their lives in prison. Our clients are serving the longest and most unjust prison terms in New York. Through public education, direct representation, and collaboration with people currently and formerly incarcerated, we advocate for release of individuals who have transformed behind bars and for a legal system that values redemption, humanity, and integrity.

We bring home people who have been in prison for extraordinarily long times—30 years, on average—by persuading governors, judges, district attorneys, and other powerful decision-makers to take a second look at their sentences through underutilized procedures like clemency.

We Provide:

✔ Direct legal representation in pursuit of clemency, parole, resentencing, and more.

✔ Education, training, and outreach. We regularly visit maximum security prisons across the state to share ideas about potential pathways to freedom with members of Lifers and Longtermers organizations.

✔ Advocacy for statewide reforms that recognize and value the capacity for redemption in each of us so that all incarcerated persons are at some point afforded a meaningful opportunity for release.