Holly has been incarcerated since she was 17 years old for murders committed by her foster father and legal guardian while she was in his custody and under his control. Holly turned 41 in January 2010.
At the time she was sentenced in New York, the court was erroneously led to believe that she would be eligible for release after 18 years; she has been in prison now for 24 years.
While she was growing up, Holly was subjected to abuse in her adoptive home, she was physically and sexually abused by her state appointed foster father and legal guardian and forced to participate in heinous crimes under threat of death to herself and others by him. Since her incarceration, Holly was subjected to abuse and torture in the Georgia Women’s Correctional Institution (now closed) and was brutally assaulted by a guard in the New York State prison system resulting in an irreparably damaged rotator cuff requiring a total reverse shoulder replacement (lawsuit pending).
Throughout her life Holly has been abused and neglected by the people and government authorities charged with her protection and welfare. Yet, after being driven into a snake pit of fear and desolation, she has risen like a phoenix and grown into a remarkable woman: educated, compassionate, and relentless in her desire to find ways to prevent the kind of life she has suffered from ever being brought upon others.
The time is NOW to release Holly from prison and permit her to find anew the life that was taken from her as an infant.
We the undersigned individuals join the Organizations in Support of Holly Coomber in declaring our support for the release of Holly Coomber from prison in New York State.
Holly has already served more years in prison than ever contemplated by the courts in which she was prosecuted for crimes committed by the man charged by law with her welfare. There is no legitimate reason to continue to punish her with confinement.
Holly Coomber needs the benefit of the more elevated professional treatment and vocational guidance available outside the prison setting to continue her path forward beyond what the prison system can and does provide for her continuing rehabilitation.
Holly Coomber has made great strides in personal development during her two decades of confinement and has earned clemency in the form of a commutation of her minimum sentence in New York.
We urge Governor David Paterson to grant clemency to Holly Coomber in 2010.
Holly has already served more years in prison than ever contemplated by the courts in which she was prosecuted for crimes committed by the man charged by law with her welfare. There is no legitimate reason to continue to punish her with confinement.
Holly Coomber needs the benefit of the more elevated professional treatment and vocational guidance available outside the prison setting to continue her path forward beyond what the prison system can and does provide for her continuing rehabilitation.
Holly Coomber has made great strides in personal development during her two decades of confinement and has earned clemency in the form of a commutation of her minimum sentence in New York.
We urge Governor David Paterson to grant clemency to Holly Coomber in 2010.
Holly Coomber shortly before her arrest at age 17, taken while she was in the custody and control of principal offender William Allen
She was under his control? But she flaunted her affair in front of his wife.....a "victim of the system".....hmmmmmmmmmm
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