Voice your support for Jacqueline - sentenced to life in prison aged 16

Had your letter to Jacqueline returned? Please re-send it, ensuring you include B47331 after Jacqueline's name and provide a return address. If you'd prefer not to give your own address, feel free to use ours: 

Human Rights Action Centre
17-25 New Inn Yard
London
EC2A 3EA

If you would prefer for us to send the letter on your behalf, please send it to the address above marked for the attention of Karen Middleton. Many thanks in advance for sending a message of support to Jacqueline. 

Update 1 January 2013: Write for Rights has now ended, and this action has closed.

A big thank you to those of you who took the time to leave Jacqueline a voice message of support. We are collecting the recorded messages together on a cassette and will deliver them to her in prison. Hearing such messages can bring hope and comfort to those suffering from human rights abuses, and we are sure that your messages supporting calls for clemency will mean a lot to Jacqueline. 

'I did what they said I did, [but] I’m not who they say I am' - Jacqueline Montanez

Voice your support for Jacqueline

Jacqueline Montanez was raised by her step-father - a brutal gang 'enforcer' who groomed her to be his 'soldier'. Her childhood was one of physical, sexual and psychological abuse. Aged just 9 she was already taking drugs and drinking alcohol.

By the time she was 15 Jacqueline had joined a gang of her own. In May 1992, shortly before her 16th birthday, she and two other women shot and killed two members of a rival gang.

Under a year later Jacqueline was tried in an adult court. She was sentenced to life imprisonment without even the possibility of parole. None of her life history was taken into consideration when sentencing.  

This shocks me so much I hope it hardly needs pointing out that imposing such a sentence on a person who was a child at the time of their crime is a violation of international law. In fact, it is a law that we believe the USA is alone in breaking.

‘I was sentenced to life in prison and it feels like I’m buried here, this is where I’m sentenced to die’ – Jacqueline Montanez

Jacqueline has already spent nearly half of her life behind bars. If her sentence stands, she will die there. She will die there no matter how good her behaviour or steep the progress of her rehabilitation. She will die there because when she was 17 the court decided that she would never be outside of prison walls again. Ever.

Send Jacqueline a message of support | Call on the Governor of Illinois to reconsider her sentence

'Not a day goes by that I don’t wish it were me [who was dead]. They were human, they were somebody’s father, they were somebody’s child.' - Jacqueline Montanez

Jacqueline is now 36 and in an adult prison. She has spent almost half of her life behind bars.

In that time she has worked hard. She has completed almost all available education and vocational programmes. She has become a certified trainer of service dogs for disabled people. She tutors and mentors younger inmates. And she is very active in the chaplaincy programs offered at her prison. She believes she is a very different person.

Voice your support for Jacqueline

If you're on a smart phone or laptop all you need to do to show Jacqueline your support is hit the record button below and say your message. The prison only allows cassette tapes in, so in the new year we'll be collecting all of your messages together and sending Jacqueline a tape. An example message might be:

I’m [first name] from [town] and my thoughts are with you Jacqueline. Sending you all my best wishes. 

Whatever you choose to say, please keep your messages short – no longer than 20 seconds – and remember we are not calling for Jacqueline’s release. We are calling for clemency and for her sentence to be reconsidered. Anything else may damage her case. Ready? Let’s go:

var audioboo={stream_id:'254908'};

Here are some messages we've already received as inspiration

 
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Can't leave Jacqueline a voice message? Send her a card instead

Jacqueline would love to receive a card from you with a message of support. Please just make sure that you:

• Write in English or Spanish
• Address it to Jacqueline Montanez B47331
• Post it to
  Jacqueline Montanez B47331
  Dwight Correctional Centre
  23813 E. 3200 North Road
  Dwight
  Illinois 60420
  USA

And include a return address. If you'd prefer not to include your own address, feel free to use ours:

Human Rights Action Centre
17-25 New Inn Yard
London EC2A 3EA

It can be difficult to think of what to say. If you’re stuck, we suggest something like:

I oppose the sentencing of children to life without parole. Sending you best wishes. In solidarity.

The regulars among you will know we sometimes ask you to refrain from mentioning Amnesty or religion in your cards. In Jacqueline’s case, you can:

• Send a religious card or message
• Send an Amnesty card or mention Amnesty
• Include your name and address

We’ve also produced some materials that might help you, if you want to get a group together to all write to Jacqueline or hold a card-writing event: