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Greg Mingo

*Greg was granted clemency in August 2021

Greg Mingo has served 39 years of a 50-to-life sentence for a crime he did not commit: the murders of two people in Queens in 1979. Greg's 68th birthday will be on December 27th, and he will not be eligible for parole until 2031, when he will be five months shy of 80 years old.  

Rather than succumb to the despair of a sentence that all but guarantees he will die in prison, Greg has dedicated his life inside to teaching, counseling, and mentoring others. Under his personal motto, "Life is 10% what you're given and 90% what you make of it," Greg has done the following and so much more:

  • Trained with a social worker in 1994 to facilitate Green Haven's domestic violence awareness program, and built off that to found fatherhood and communications programs

  • Completed thousands of hours of apprenticeship work in the mid-1990s to become first a Counseling Aide I and then Counseling Aide II

  • Assisted peers in the law library since 2001 and created his own legal research curriculum to teach others. By our best estimates, Greg has helped more than 1,000 men with their cases and other legal issues

  • Facilitated the Aggression Replacement Training program for more than 25 years

In light of his dedication to helping others, Greg has a counseling job at a rehabilitation center waiting for him when he comes home. Our community needs people like Greg out in the world to bring this leadership, wisdom, and compassion to others at risk of addiction, violence, and incarceration.