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<a class="gmail-domain gmail-reader-domain" href="https://centerforjustice.columbia.edu/news/kathy-boudin-great-life-and-great-loss">centerforjustice.columbia.edu</a>
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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Kathy Boudin: A Great Life and A Great Loss</h1>
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<p>May 02, 2022</p>
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<p>Celebrating the life and mourning the loss of our co-founder and co-director Kathy Boudin</p>
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<img src="https://centerforjustice.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cu_crop/public/content/Kathy%20Headshot.png?itok=YUX0hGOK" alt="Kathy Boudin, May 19, 1943–May 1, 2022" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="460" height="257">
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<div id="gmail-text-689"><p>Kathy Boudin died<strong> </strong>on
May Day 2022 at 12:59 PM. Her son Chesa Boudin and her life partner
David Gilbert were by her side. After a seven-year fight with cancer she
died surrounded by lifelong friends and family members. Born on May 19,
1943, Kathy spent her childhood in New York’s Greenwich Village with
her father, renowned civil liberties lawyer Leonard Boudin; mother, poet
Jean Boudin; and brother, now-retired federal appellate judge Michael
Boudin. Their home was a gathering spot for political activists,
intellectuals, and artists.</p>
<p>Kathy graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1965 and was soon
radicalized by the growing anti-war and racial justice movements of the
60s, beginning her lifelong work as an activist, organizer, teacher, and
champion of social justice. From her engagement with the early days of
the civil rights movement in the Cleveland-based ERAP Project (a
multiracial movement of the poor), to her work with Students for a
Democratic Society and the Weather Underground, Kathy was most of all an
organizer, who loved talking to and learning from people; she built
community toward overcoming oppression and disenfranchisement. She chose
to work on behalf of marginalized communities and against war and
imperialism, forgoing the comforts and privileges available to her. She
was determined to make radical change by any means necessary.</p>
<p>In 1981, trying to raise money to support Black revolutionary
organizations, Kathy and her partner David Gilbert participated in the
robbery of a Brinks truck in Nyack, NY. Though Kathy and David were not
armed and did not personally hurt anyone, three men were killed. Kathy
and David were arrested and sentenced to decades in prison.</p>
<p>Kathy entered Bedford Hills Correctional Facility with remorse for
her role in the deadly robbery, and serious questions about the role of
violence in political movements and the consequences of her political
choices.</p>
<p>Her then 14-month-old son, Chesa Boudin, was adopted by friends and
fellow activists Bernardine Dohrn and Bill Ayers, who raised him in
partnership with Kathy and David; she had regular visits with Chesa for
the next 22 years, helping to parent him from the distance her
incarceration created.</p></div>
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<img src="https://centerforjustice.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cu_crop/public/content/20160508_091247_001.jpg?itok=e9D5M41E" alt="Kathy Boudin with her son Chesa" tabindex="0" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="460" height="259">
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<div id="gmail-text-691"><p>In prison, Kathy underwent a
profound transformation, grappling with her crime and its consequences.
She became a leading advocate for women in prison, fighting for the
reunification of imprisoned women and their children, bringing college
courses back to Bedford Hills after the termination of Pell grants, and
building a community response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, saving countless
lives. She was the first woman to earn a masters degree while
incarcerated in New York State Prison. Her outward-facing initiatives
became a path to seeking restorative justice for many, and eventually
led to parole and release from prison.</p>
<p>After Kathy was paroled in 2003, she avoided public appearances or
statements, seeking private reconciliation and time with family and
friends. She founded the Coming Home Program at the Spencer Cox Center
for Health at Mt. Sinai/St.Luke’s Hospital in Morningside Heights, which
provides health care for people returning from incarceration. She went
on to earn a doctorate from Columbia University Teachers College in
2007; to teach at the Columbia School of Social Work; and to co-found
and co-direct the <a href="http://centerforjustice.columbia.edu/">Center for Justice at Columbia University</a>.
Among other things, since 2010 the Center for Justice organized an
annual movement building conference, “Beyond the Bars” which attracts
thousands of activists, organizers, academics, and justice impacted
people from down the block and around the world. “More than just an
academic conference, Beyond the Bars is led by formerly incarcerated
people and has built a global community at the forefront of justice
reform,” said Cheryl Wilkins co-founder of the Center for Justice.
“Kathy was instrumental in developing Release Aging People from Prison
(RAPP), uplifting the voices of women through work with the National
Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls, and
so much more.”</p>
<p>Kathy’s work had a major impact on the struggle for the decent
treatment of incarcerated people, the fight against mass incarceration,
and on criminal justice reform. Jarrell E. Daniels, a staff member at
Columbia’s Center for Justice and a formerly incarcerated person says,
“Kathy’s legacy, mission and lifetime commitment to advancing social
justice, supporting disadvantaged communities and reforming the criminal
legal system will never be forgotten, especially by those whose lives
she touched… Her leadership with the Center for Justice empowered
community members and returning citizens to stand as advocates for
institutional and systematic change. Although she was a mother of one,
she was a mother and fearless leader in the global movement for justice
reform, social equality and re-enfranchisement. For so many of us, Kathy
was a legend that defied odds and broke through the boundaries. She
will never be forgotten.”</p>
<p>Activist and Professor Angela Davis said, “Kathy is one of my oldest
friends. We’ve known each other since high school, and we’ve done work
against the prison industrial complex for the last twenty some years
since Kathy herself was released from prison.”</p></div>
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<img src="https://centerforjustice.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cu_crop/public/content/IMG-20191108-WA0000.jpg?itok=JHYO4bHn" alt="Kathy Boudin and family" tabindex="0" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="460" height="345">
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<div id="gmail-text-693"><p>Kathy’s articles have been published in <em>The Harvard Education Review; Journal of Corrections Education, Women and Therapy;</em> <em>Columbia Journal of Gender and Law;</em> and <em>Liman Report of Yale Law School. </em>She is editor and co-author of the book <em>Breaking the Walls of Silence: AIDS and Women in a New York State Maximum Security Prison. </em>Her
research interests included the impact of higher education and peer
support on incarcerated women, recidivism rates and life experience of
people serving long sentences and parole policy, and the experience of
adolescents with incarcerated mothers.</p>
<p>“Kathy’s commitment to higher education opportunities for people who
are incarcerated and who have returned from incarceration inspired
Columbia’s Justice-in-Education initiative which provides educational
opportunities in prisons and jails and on campus. Seven formerly
incarcerated students will celebrate their graduation from Columbia this
month as a fitting tribute to Kathy’s effort to ensure college access
to people with a criminal conviction,” said Geraldine Downey, Niven
Professor of Humane Letters, Department of Psychology, and the Director
of the Center for Justice. “Kathy exemplified a meaningful life after
decades in prison. Her influence will be felt for years to come in our
work and the efforts of so many others.”</p>
<p>Her years of separation from her own son led Kathy to pursue and keep
close friendships with the children of her many friends – and their
children too, as they grew up and became parents themselves. An avid
reader and inspired story-teller, poet, and gift-giver, she was a
beloved aunt and adopted grandmother for dozens of young people. Her
love of music – folk, political, feminist, classical, jazz – brought her
joy. And she was a model for other generations who were inspired by her
thoughtful introspection, kindness, and fierce determination to make
the world a better place. </p></div>
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<img src="https://centerforjustice.columbia.edu/sites/default/files/styles/cu_crop/public/content/Kathy%2C%20Chesa%2C%20and%20David.png?itok=mzImSban" alt="Chesa Boudin, Kathy Boudin, and David Gilbert" tabindex="0" class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 25px;" width="460" height="257">
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<div id="gmail-text-695"><p>“My mom fought cancer for seven
years in her unshakably optimistic and courageous way,” said Chesa
Boudin, Kathy’s son and the San Francisco District Attorney. “She made
it long enough to meet her grandson, and welcome my father home from
prison after 40 years. She always ended phone calls with a laugh, a
habit acquired during the 22 years of her incarceration, when she wanted
to leave every person she spoke with, especially me, with joy and hope.
She lived redemption, constantly finding ways to give back to those
around her.”</p>
<p>Kathy is survived by her brother Michael Boudin, her life partner
David Gilbert and their son Chesa Boudin, daughter-in-law Valerie Block,
grandson Aiden Block Boudin, and Chesa’s two brothers Zayd and Malik
Dohrn and honorary daughters-in-law Rachel DeWoskin, Lisa Freccero, and
five honorary grandchildren: Dalin, Light, Jacai, Nala, and Teo.</p>
<p>Donations in Kathy’s honor should be made to:</p>
<p>Columbia’s Center for Justice: <a href="https://socialwork.givenow.columbia.edu/?alloc=19488" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://socialwork.givenow.columbia.edu/?alloc=19488#</a></p>
<p>Release Aging People in Prison: <a href="https://rappcampaign.com/donate/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://rappcampaign.com/donate/</a></p>
<p>or</p>
<p>The National Council for Incarcerated and Formerly Incarcerated Women and Girls: <a href="https://secure.actblue.com/donate/free-her" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://secure.actblue.com/donate/free-her</a></p></div>
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