Home /  Urgent Action Network  / USA VICTORY: URGE PAROLE FOR NATIVE AMERICAN ACTIVIST (USA 16.19)

USA VICTORY: URGE PAROLE FOR NATIVE AMERICAN ACTIVIST

UA: 16.29
Share:
This action ended on May 28, 2024
OUTCOME: On January 20, 2025 in the final hour of his presidency, President Biden announced that he was commuting the sentence of Native American activist Leonard Peltier. This will allow Leonard to finish the remainder of his sentence under home confinement with his loved ones and community instead of behind bars. Amnesty previously sent observers to Leonard Peltier’s trial in 1977 and has campaigned for his release from prison for many years. Amnesty International will continue to monitor the circumstances of his confinement moving forward. Thank you to all who took action on behalf of Leonard over all these decades.

Native American activist Leonard Peltier (Bureau of Prisons Register Number 89637-132) has been imprisoned in the USA for nearly 50 years, some of which was spent in solitary confinement, for a crime he maintains that he did not commit. Now 79 years old, he suffers from several chronic health ailments, including one that is potentially fatal. He finally has a new parole hearing on June 10, which may be the last opportunity to grant his freedom. We urge the Commission to grant Leonard Peltier parole. 

PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: June 10, 2024

take action:

  • Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
  • Click here to let us know the actions you took on Sixth Urgent Action 16.19. It’s important to report because we share the total number with the officials we are trying to persuade and the people we are trying to help.

Contact information:

Acting Chairperson, Patricia K. Cushwa

Commissioner Charles T. Massarone

U.S. Parole Commission

90 K Street NE, 3rd Floor

Washington DC 20530, USA

Phone: +1 202-346-7000

Email: [email protected]

sample letter:

Dear Acting Chairperson Cushwa and Commissioner Massarone,

I am writing to urge you to grant parole to Native American elder, Leonard Peltier (Bureau of Prisons Register Number 89637-132).

For nearly five decades, Amnesty International—the non-partisan global human rights organization—has documented serious concerns about the legal process which led to Leonard Peltier’s conviction and sentencing.

Tribal Nations, Indigenous leaders, Members of Congress, former FBI Agents, the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, Nobel Peace Prize laureates, and even the former U.S. Attorney, James Reynolds, whose office handled Leonard Peltier’s prosecution and appeal, have also called for Leonard Peltier’s release.

U.S. Attorney Reynolds wrote in 2021, “in my opinion, to continue to imprison Mr. Peltier any longer, knowing all that we know now, would serve only to continue the broken relationship between Native Americans and the government.”

Given the ongoing, unresolved concerns about the fairness of Leonard Peltier’s incarceration, that he has spent nearly 50 years in prison, his age, and ongoing and chronic health issues, granting parole is timely and in the interests of both justice and mercy.

Yours sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: