FIVE INMATES' SENTENCES ARE COMMUTED BY PATAKI

Gov. George E. Pataki, extending a holiday tradition, yesterday commuted
the sentences of five inmates serving long prison terms under the state's
strict drug sentencing laws, including a man who is nearly immobilized by
muscular dystrophy.

The governor's action comes as pressure to amend the laws, a 27-year-old
legacy of Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller, is gaining in the Legislature, where
such proposals have died year after year.

The five inmates, who are to go before the New York State Parole Board next
month to be considered for release on parole, were all convicted of
possession of drugs and sentenced to at least 15 years to life in prison.
"These individuals have worked hard to earn a second chance," Governor
Pataki said in a statement.

Four of the inmates are women, all of whom have been active in educational
and volunteer programs in prison. The fifth inmate, Terrence Stevens, 34,
was arrested on a bus in Buffalo for carrying five ounces of cocaine and
has spent eight years in prison. He has been increasingly disabled by
muscular dystrophy, which struck him as a teenager.

Mr. Stevens's brother, Kelsey, 29, said, "Oh, my God" repeatedly when he
was reached at his mother's apartment in Manhattan yesterday and told of
the commutation.

"I'm sitting here crying," Kelsey Stevens said. "I had no idea. I only knew
he was being reviewed for it."

Mr. Stevens, who is in a cellblock for disabled prisoners at the Green
Haven Correctional Facility in Dutchess County, cannot dress or bathe
himself and can barely feed himself. His 15-year sentence was the minimum
required by the so-called Rockefeller laws.

As in many cases of first-time, nonviolent offenders, the judge who
sentenced Mr. Stevens said he disagreed with the sentencing mandates. In an
interview in April with The New York Times, John V. Rogowski, a retired
justice of the State Supreme Court in Erie County, said, "I felt somewhat
helpless to do what I thought should be done, which was to give him a
lesser sentence."

The other inmates granted clemency yesterday were Leah Bundy, 32; Donna
Charles, 41; Migdalia Martinez, 34; and Melita Oliveira, 57. All had served
more than 10 years.

The governor receives hundreds of requests for clemency each year, said
Suzanne Morris, a spokeswoman. Since Mr. Pataki took office in 1995, he has
commuted the sentences of 23 people, most of them nonviolent drug offenders
and most of them women.

Ms. Morris said the governor was "very hopeful that 2001 will be the year
we can take a look at reforming the laws," something he has urged several
times.

But advocates of repeal said that Mr. Pataki has called for only limited
changes. The measure he supported last year would have allowed a small
group of nonviolent offenders to petition an appeals court for sentences of
10 years rather than 15.

"We're pleased that Governor Pataki showed mercy during the holiday season
for these five individuals," said Robert Gangi, the executive director of
the Correctional Association of New York. "But it's time for the governor
to move beyond token gestures."

Many proposals have failed in the Legislature, but Assembly Speaker Sheldon
Silver said recently he would drop his opposition to easing the sentencing
laws in the session starting next month. The Senate majority leader, Joseph
L. Bruno, has already joined other Republicans, including some of the
original sponsors, in supporting amendments.

In the meantime, some inmates have garnered widespread support. Ms. Charles
was among several women in the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility who
found an advocate in Charles Grodin, the talk show host and actor. Three of
the other women for whom Mr. Grodin advocated were released last year.

Cardinal John J. O'Connor, the archbishop of New York who died this year,
wrote to the parole division's director of clemency in support of Ms.
Oliveira, who was found carrying five and a half ounces of cocaine at
Kennedy Airport. The governor cited Ms. Oliveira's work in an AIDS workshop
and a women's health program during her 13 years in prison.

Mr. Stevens was supported by "everybody in the prison, from the top down,"
his mother, Regina, said yesterday.

Ms. Stevens, a school cafeteria worker, has regularly taken part in rallies
in Albany. She said her son had tried not to get his hopes up and tried to
protect the family from disappointment.

"He told us to keep a box of tissues nearby," Ms. Stevens said. "I am so
happy words can't even express it. I got my baby back."