Prisoner Advisory Board

Let’s Get Free is guided by an advisory board of people in prison. Throughout each year we lean on them for guidance and advice. We asked for members to submit bios and each shared a little bit different. We are slowly putting everyone’s info up.

Terri Harper

Terri was brought up in Philadelphia, and has been serving a life sentence since 1991. Read a series of interviews with Terri as a part of the LifeLines project here. This a little bit of how Terri describes herself.

I absolutely love to cook, write, read, and laugh. I love big dogs, blue skies, and watching the seasons change. As the seasons continue to change on my life and the lives around me, I want to know that I am actively doing all I can to change my actions and the outcome of such, so the world around me and at large can be better in some way. For every little bit of success I achieve, we all are safer and happier.

My second degree murder and 24 years does not define the whole of who I am. It signifies what I did, and what I am trying to make amends for.

Contact–> Terri Harper #OB7637 – SCI Muncy

Sheena’ King

Sheena has been active and supporting LGF for about a year, and has been an active member in the inmate organization at Muncy for much longer. She shares this about why she co-founded the Women Lifers Resume Project:

I was born and raised in North Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and incarcerated on March 20, 1992. I was sentenced to Life Imprisonment on December 16, 1993 for a crime that I committed on May 10, 1991 when I was 18 years old.

For years, we women have watched from the shadows as men applied for and were granted Commutation, as they fought to overturn their convictions and were able to garner support from the outside that we could not imagine for ourselves.

Instead of complaining about it, Brittany and I pondered ways to get women seen and heard. We didn’t want to only be viewed by the worst thing we’d done. We needed people to see that we were trying to redeem and better ourselves and our community. We didn’t want to showcase the pain of incarceration. Instead, we wanted to show we are not the same person that first entered the gates of Muncy so many years ago by displaying our potential and what we could accomplish if given a chance.

Connect–> Sheena’ King #OC2312 – SCI Muncy

Sarita Miller

Kevin Saleem Mines

Saleem has been contributing and advising us since 2016! He has a tremendous record of community participation including serving as President of Lifers Inc. at Graterford and now Phoenix. He has helped in bringing countless conferences and programs to the inside, convening lawmakers, lawyers and concerned groups. Over the years, he has had leading roles in the NAACP prison chapter, as well as, the Grey Panthers.  Saleem also serves as a prison advisor for the JUST Listening group.

Connect –> Kevin S. Mines #AY5941 at SCI- Phoenix

Amy Pencille

Hi, My name is Amy. I am 48 years old. I have been serving a life sentence from 1993 til now. I have one son (age 30) and five brothers. I am the president of the organization here at SCI-Cambridge Springs called WHO, which stands for, Women Helping Others. I love to cook and plan on going to culinary school when I make commutation. I want to own my own restaurant. I helped train dogs for the CPL program and am whole heartedly THE BIGGEST STEELERS FAN BREATHING. I think it’s an honor to be on the Prison Advisory Board and i will do my part to the best of my ability.

Connect–> Amy Pencille #OC0174 SCI- Cambridge Springs

Charmaine Pfender

My name is Charmaine Pfender. I have been in prison for 35 years. I am currently in the commutation process.

I was one of the original 3 women that Let’s Get Free started with. They have fought for me even in times I stopped fighting for myself. I tried everything to gain my freedom and when each one failed, even with the best attorney, and tons of support, I felt more and more hopeless.

When loved ones began to die, when I realized I’d never have kids, it all became so weighty. But, when LGF, CADBI (Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration), and FFL’s (Fight For Lifers) all started to make headway, new hope arised in the form of Commutation and House Bills.

Thanks to Break Bread, I learned that we can make new family. Not to replace the ones we lost, but to fill the void left behind.

You can count of LGF. Thank God I have, they kept me going.

The photo is of my mother Donna Hill (left) myself and Elis Lowe (right). I met Elias on a Break Bread visit and consider them my child I could never have.

In Solidarity, Charmaine

Connect–> Charmaine Pfender #OO7423 – SCI Cambridge Springs

Vern Robinson

Vern is the secretary of Right to Redemption which is part of Lifers Inc – a very active organization at SCI-Phoenix. Vern is an avid writer. In his piece, Awakening which is published on Medium, Vern talks about the closing of SCI- Graterford one of the oldest prisons in the state of PA and the transferring of himself and many others to the new prison, SCI- Phoenix just down the road.

Vern has a facebook page

Connect –> Vern Robinson #CB3895 – SCI- Phoenix

Todd ‘Hyung-Rae’ Tarselli

Todd “Hyung Rae” Tarselli has been in prison for over 27 years. He was sentenced to life without possibility of parole for a crime he committed when he was 17 years old. Born in South Korea, Hyung Rae’s parents died when he was just a child. At the age of 5, he entered an orphanage, where his birthdate was inaccurately recorded as 6-years old, due to a mistake in interpreting cultural age counting. Korean culture considers a child 1-year old on the day of birth while the U.S. does not. This cultural difference in counting age was not properly accounted for during his adoption. Hyung Rae was adopted by an American family in 1980 and struggled to adjust to the new culture, family, environment, and community. In 1992, he pled guilty to a robbery and murder. Because of the age counting error, Hyung Rae was listed as 18 years old and charged as an adult, which  impacted his life sentence in Pennsylvania.

Hyung-Rae has been in collaboration with some of our members for 20 years and is a tireless artist for the movement.

Connect –> Todd Tarselli #BY-8025 – SCI-Forest

Brittany Williams

Born and raised in Pittsburgh, PA, I was sentenced to Life With-Out Parole (LWOP) on June 30, 2005 at the age of 19 for a crime I committed on March 23, 2003.

During the first 2 years of my incarceration, I was afraid to speak out, fearful of what family, friends and society would think of or say about me. The severity of my crime lived with me every day and continues to do so. I tried to live behind the shadows but, soon realized, hiding was not the answer for my future. I knew I had to start living a life of self-restoration. During the next 14 years, I worked hard to build up my confidence and to understand my self-worth through personal development activities. Now, the woman I am today is not the same person that first walked through the doors of the County Jail and then into SCI Muncy. I have a voice; I am a mentor and an advocate for criminal justice reform.

In 2015, Sheena King, who is also serving a LWOP sentence, and I came up with the idea of the Women Lifers Resume Project to illustrate the accomplishments and reformation of Pennsylvania women serving LWOP sentences. Sheena and I have worked hard to better ourselves and to be mentors for our community members. Our hope is to one day be able to give back to society, using the skills and tools we have acquired and practiced on a daily basis. If given the opportunity, we would like to shed light on how much of an impact we can be in our perspective communities.

Connect–> Brittany Williams #OJ3244 – SCI Muncy

Jermaine Palmer

Jermaine Palmer is a passionate organizer, mentor, comrade, and visionary of just futures! Jermaine is a member of and point person for Coalition Against Death By Incarceration (CADBI), serving as a crucial conduit for information between CADBI’s inside and outside members. He is President of the Lifer’s Program and member of the Manformation membership collective at SCI-Somerset. Jermaine is a scholar of the law and advisor to others in the struggle for justice through the legal system. During his time on inside, Jermaine has helped his community members use the law to regain their appellate rights and access to evidentiary hearings, and continues to fight for review in his own case. Recently, he began a course to gain formal paralegal training with Blackstone Career Institute. Jermaine is an enthusiastic EPA-Certified HVAC technician, aerobics class instructor, and coach, and apprentice in a small business organization. He is a talented artist but still learning how to color inside the lines! Finally, Jermaine is an abolitionist and is dedicated to building new structures that support human life, joy, accountability, and potential. Along the way, like water, Jermaine works to support and nurture those around him and to inspire growth, community, and possibility!

Connect–> Jermaine Palmer #CS0716 –  SCI-Somerset

Marsha Scaggs

My name is Marsha Scaggs.  I am 56 yrs. old.  I am currently serving a life sentence at SCI Cambridge Springs. I have been incarcerated for 33 years.  I have two brothers, one sister, and a host of nieces and nephews.  I have no children of my own.

I enjoy cross-stitching, cooking, and reading my bible.

I have been working in the therapeutic drug & alcohol program as a peer assistant for over 10 years, and this is my passion.  I love helping people, and it makes me proud to see the women I work with succeed in life after they are released from prison. I plan on pursuing this line of work when I am released.  I also would like to  advocate for the cause of ending DBI(Death by Incarceration).  I am proud to be on the Let’s Get Free prison advisory board, and to be able to help in any way I can.      (Summer, 2020)

Shane Daley

Pierre Pinson

Russell Maroon Shoats