FIVE CONVICTS GET GIFT OF FREEDOM

A Queens woman doing life in prison for smuggling drugs was among five
people given a Christmas gift of clemency Friday by Gov. George Pataki.

Donna Charles, 41, of Jamaica, had been a local cause celebre; both
the judge who sentenced her to the tough term under the Rockefeller
drug laws and a nun at the Sisters of St. Joseph in Jamaica had
lobbied for her release for years.

"I'm walking on clouds," said Sister Karen Cavanagh, who had worked
for four years to free Charles. "Donna left this message on my
answering machine: 'Nana, we're free, we're free, by the grace of God,
clemency is mine!'"

Another woman nabbed in Queens as a drug mule, Melita Oliveira, 57,
also was granted clemency in the holiday tradition. The other three:
Leah Bundy, 32; Migdalia Martinez, 34; and Terrence Stevens, 34.

"These individuals have served long sentences and have used their
prison time constructively, dedicating themselves to becoming
contributing members of society," Pataki said. "While I remain firmly
committed to continuing our successful efforts to fight crime, these
individuals have worked hard to earn a second chance."

Robert Gangi, of the Correctional Association, a prisoners watchdog
group, said about 630 people remain in state prisons who were
sentenced under the harshest section of the Rockefeller law, which
mandates a minimum of 15 years to life.

"It's good news for these people, they've served sentences far longer
than justice or the public safety called for," Gangi said.

Charles, who Pataki cited for stopping an attack on a corrections
officer and for working with mentally ill inmates at Bedford Hills
Correctional Facility, was denied clemency two years ago. She will be
freed from prison next month, if the state parole board approves.

Charles has been imprisoned since 1987 for first-degree criminal
possession of a controlled substance. She was arrested in 1986 at
LaGuardia Airport for smuggling six pounds of cocaine.

Oliveira, of New Jersey, was nabbed at Kennedy Airport in 1987 for
smuggling cocaine. She was cited for working with AIDS patients.