Sunshine Sentinel

When Evelyn Bozon Pappa was only 14, she married a significantly older man who subsequently moved his bride and their young family from South America to the United States where he allegedly operated a drug ring.

Pappa was so in love with her husband, Romero, that she turned a blind eye to his illicit activities with narcotics. However, when she heard there was a warrant for his arrest, she immediately identified herself to the authorities as his wife, trusting that her husband would then turn himself in.

Instead, the alleged drug kingpin took their four children and fled for Colombia, leaving Pappa behind to face his fate even though she had not been involved with selling or buying cocaine. In 1995, Pappa was sentenced to life without parole in a federal prison in Tallahassee, Florida.

“There are a lot of women who are the girlfriend or wife, serving more time in prison than the actual drug dealer,” said Jason Hernandez, a clemency recipient under 

former President Barack Obama turned prisoner advocate and founder of Crack Open the Door. “Many are in love with their criminally-minded husbands or boyfriends, which gives the man psychological control over the woman to the point that they are manipulated or used.”

Pappa, who is not a citizen of the United States, was already denied clemency once by former President Obama but her daughter Martha has not given up and hopes President Trump will be more lenient.

“Non-citizens have a more challenging time than others to gain clemency,” Hernandez told the Sunshine Sentinel. “It’s outrageous to let Evelyn die in prison because she’s not an American.”

Today, Pappa, 59, has served 25 years of eight life sentences.  “Someone who has reason to be mad at society, isn’t,” Hernandez said in an interview. “Evelyn is making the most of a terrible situation by remaining optimistic despite facing life without parole, which means she will die in prison without clemency.”

Eight prison guards have written letters on Pappa’s behalf, reporting that she is a beacon of light for other inmates.

“She is the mother of so many women in the correctional facility that are lost but she needs to return back to her family in South America,” Hernandez said. “Letting her out would give incarcerated women who have 10, 20 or life without parole sentences hope.”