OUR MEMBERS
Free
at Last
The son of a retired 1199 organizer is granted clemency after nearly 24 years behind bars.
18
November/December 2021
“Whenever I felt despair, I thought about my family. It was my Mom who sustained me,” says Jon-Adrian Velazquez, who was finally released on September 9th after being wrongly incarcerated for almost 24 years. The only son of retired 1199 Home Care organizer, Maria Velazquez, he was granted clemency by former Governor Andrew Cuomo shortly before he stepped down. When 1199 Magazine visited the Velazquez family in Haverstraw, New York, just two months after his release, emotions were still very raw. When JonAdrian, known as JJ, was imprisoned in Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining, New York, his eldest son was three and a half and his youngest was only five weeks old. The boys went to live with his mother shortly afterwards. His then girlfriend simply could not contemplate waiting for him through a 25-year sentence. Aged 46 when he was finally released, Velazquez says: “I have now spent more of my life in prison than out in society.” Recalling how she faithfully brought his boys up to the prison every Saturday for visiting hours throughout his entire sentence, his mother breaks
down, and JJ immediately stands up to comfort her with a strong embrace. She was in her late 40s when he was convicted, and now she is 72. “There were many dark, hard times,” she says. “Whenever I broke down, he lifted me. “All I ever wanted was to be alive when he came home,” she continues. “My house was always empty. It was just me and the dogs. My biggest fear was that I would die without ever seeing him free.” The killing for which Velazquez was convicted took place following a botched robbery at an illegal gambling parlor on Harlem’s 125th Street, run by a retired New York Police Department (NYPD) Sergeant named Albert Ward. While the robbery was taking place, JJ was in his Bronx apartment on the phone with his mother. Ward was shot dead just 12 minutes after the call ended. Mother and son were planning a visit to the graveside of Velazquez’s father, who had died the previous year, to commemorate his birthday. “My apartment at the time was on 168th Street in the Highbridge district of the Bronx,” says JJ
Jon-Adrian Velazquez hugs his son, JonAdrian Jr (left) and his mother Maria Velazquez (right).
