Judith Clark

Judith Clark

Photo by Nan Goldin.

Judith Clark, a 1960s and 1970s political activist, has spent 35 years in prison for her role as a getaway driver in a 1981 robbery that left three people dead. Now 67 years old, she has undergone a profound transformation, from an unrepentant radical to a respected educator and caring role model. She was granted clemency by Governor Andrew Cuomo on December 30, 2016, but denied parole on April 21, 2017.

Read about Judy, or Judy's letter to the Governor, or her daughter, Harriet's, letter to the Governor.

Listen to Kevin Kline, Glenn Close, and Steve Buscemi read excerpts from letters to Governor Paterson:

Or, download the MP3.

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Judy has written over a dozen scholarly articles as well as numerous pieces of fiction and poetry. Here are some of them:

Scholarly Works

  • “My Process of T'Shuvah,” from Fellowship of Reconciliation (2011)
  • “Reflections on the Prison as Community,” from Journal of Prisoners on Prison (2010)
  • Miriam and Our Dance of Freedom: Seder in Prison, from The Women's Passover Companion (Jewish Lights Publishing 2006)
  • Reflections on the Binding of Isaac (2005)
  • Love Them and Leave Them, from Zero to Three (1995-1996)
  • The Impact of the Prison Environment on Mothers, from The Prison Journal (1995)
  • Struggles for Justice: Community of Women Organize Themselves to Cope with the AIDS Crisis, from Social Justice (1990)

Poetry

  • Poems from Aliens at the Border
  • Write a poem that makes no sense
    (First Place 1995 PEN Prison Writing Award for Poetry)
  • Three Poems from IKON
  • The Evening News
  • To Vladimir Mayakovsky
  • Wild Geese
  • I want to go inside

Letters

  • Brinks conspirator: “I Am Deeply Sorry,” The Journal News (2002)
  • Letter to the Editor, Fortune News (1994)

Memoirs

  • The Girl Behind the Smile, in Word: On Being a Woman Writer (Feminist Press, 2004)
  • So Here I Am, in Red Diaper Babies (University of Illinois Press, 1998)

Copyright 2011–2014 Friends of Judith Clark.