“Few can look back at their career and say, ‘I helped free dozens maybe hundreds, maybe even thousands of prisoners,’” said NACDL Executive Director Norman Reimer. “In the fullness of time, as the First Step Act takes hold, and perhaps is replicated in the states, it is impossible to say how many people will owe their freedom - and the dignity of dying surrounded by loved ones instead of alone encased in cinder block and bars – to Mary Price.”
Price directs the FAMM Litigation Project and advocates for reform of federal sentencing and corrections law and policy before Congress, the U.S. Sentencing Commission, the Bureau of Prisons, and the Department of Justice. She also played a pivotal role in founding and supporting Clemency Project 2014, where she worked closely with NACDL and other groups to support a major pro bono effort to secure commutations for federal inmates.
“I cannot convey how gratifying it has been to secure the release of a prisoner I know the BOP would never have supported,” said Price. “This is the most satisfying work I have ever done, and the lawyers who take these cases say the very same thing.”
Price continues to play a pivotal role in the NACDL/FAMM State Clemency Project, and her efforts to promote and implement compassionate release programs for elderly and ill inmates further underscores her life-long dedication to the restoration of rights and second chances.
A complete list of past winners of the Champion of Justice Restoration of Rights Award is available here.
Madeline Sklar, NACDL Public Affairs and Communications Assistant, (202) 465-7647 or msklar@nacdl.org.
The National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers is the preeminent organization advancing the mission of the criminal defense bar to ensure justice and due process for persons accused of crime or wrongdoing. A professional bar association founded in 1958, NACDL's many thousands of direct members in 28 countries – and 90 state, provincial and local affiliate organizations totaling up to 40,000 attorneys – include private criminal defense lawyers, public defenders, military defense counsel, law professors and judges committed to preserving fairness and promoting a rational and humane criminal justice system.
