She faced a parole board in 1997. Denied — not an unusual outcome for convicted murderers appearing for the first time. She returned before the board every two years, as scheduled, in 1999, 2001, 2003, 2005 and 2007 — all denied. She was not particularly disappointed, she said, because she never expected to be paroled.
The truth was, she didn’t think she belonged outside. “I’m a monster,” she recalled thinking. “I deserve to be here.”
A campaign for parole
She had become close with Charlotte Watson, an advocate for battered women who had opened a shelter called My Sister’s Place in Yonkers, and who had later served under former Gov. George E. Pataki in the Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. With Ms. Wright’s seventh parole hearing approaching in 2009, Ms. Watson sat her down for a talk.
“I’ve come to see if you’re ready to go home,” Ms. Watson said.
Ms. Watson wrote to dozens of friends and colleagues, most of whom had never heard of Blanche Wright. “I was struck by her honesty and her absolute feeling of responsibility and remorse for those crimes,” she wrote of Ms. Wright. “I won’t go into all the horrific details of her life or of her integrity, strength and courage, because I’m not sure that even cyberspace could hold it all.”
Her audience responded with letters of their own to the parole board. One was from Ms. Lord, the former superintendent at the prison. “The Blanche Wright I met in 1982 has evolved from a withdrawn, silent individual into a serious, determined and capable adult who has taken advantage of every opportunity for self-growth,” she wrote.
Another came from a retired lieutenant at the prison, who wrote, “Inmate Wright is a special case who deserves a chance at the brass ring.” A prosecutor said on her behalf, “I never once wrote a letter in support of release of an inmate.” Other letters came from different corners of New York — a state senator, a nun, a Zen master — and were handed over in a thick binder.
Ms. Wright appeared before three parole commissioners on Oct. 20, 2009. She spoke of meeting Mr. Young. “I thought he was a lawyer, nice guy,” she said, according to a transcript. “My life was broken. Completely broken. I was emotionally unstable, mentally unstable, underdeveloped mentally.”
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