Jose Saldana was 27-years-old when he was arrested and found guilty for attempted murder of an NYPD sergeant in 1980. He was sentenced to 25 years to life, a conviction that would change his life forever.

Saldana served his sentence at Green Haven Correctional Facility in Dutchess County. From behind bars, Saldana, 66, who lives in Norwood, watched inmates around him grow old and eventually die.

In January 2018, roughly 38 years later, Saldana, was released from prison at the age of 65 after being denied parole four times. Saldana was given a second chance and is among a select few of elderly prisoners who managed to make it out of the New York State prison system. He was reunited with his wife Rosa, who has lived in Norwood for the past 30 years. Saldana through his trials and tribulations, isn’t keeping quiet over what he finds to be problematic in the system, inmates who die from old age. The average age of death for inmates is roughly 58.

He’s now the director of Release Aging People in Prison (RAPP), a non-profit organization that strives to end mass incarceration while advocating for early release of prisoners serving lifelong sentences. It’s the same group–which his wife Rosa was affiliated with– that helped him get out of prison. The group’s founder, Mujahid Farid, passed away in 2018. Before his death he appointed Saldana, who was working as a community organizer for RAPP, as the new executive director.

“I was in shock. The RAPP members and the other two founders supported the decision. They all made commitments that they would help and we would lead as a family. Almost a year now since he passed away, we have grown tremendously and we have actually surpassed his expectations,” said Saldana, speaking to the Norwood News from his home that doubles as his satellite office.

Saldana was raised in Spanish Harlem. He was sent to prison for his involvement in the attempted murder of Sergeant Patrick Pellicano, the result of an investigation involving a stolen car that Saldana rode in. A trial found Saldana never fired a weapon that nearly killed Pellicano. In prison, Saldana made use of his time, becoming something of a mentor to younger folks.

“As I grew, I helped others grow, we call that passing the torch. When we see the younger guys coming in, we try to develop programs, a curriculum based on what helped us,” said Saldana.

Saldana earned his associate degree and spearheaded a number of restorative justice and victim awareness programs while in jail. He had his fair share of parole meetings and knows how the system was set up for him to be continually denied parole.

Saldana has personally experienced a lack of seriousness by those on the state parole board to consider granting parole to inmates over the age of 65. Saldana, for instance, had been denied parole four times. For each denial, Saldana had to wait another two years before meeting with the parole board again. 

“You have former prosecutors, former detectives, former cops, former deputy sheriffs, people who think of arrest and prosecute. Now you are asking them to evaluate whether someone should return back to their family or community,” said Saldana of those administering his parole hearings.

RAPP is doing everything it can to vouch for parole reform. The group has pushed for two bills, the Fair and Timely Parole Act which would make it difficult to deny parole based on the type of crime and the elder parole bill, which would grant more hearings for those who are aged 55 and above. According to RAPP, of the 46,000 people incarcerated in the NYS Prison system, 20% of the population are aged 50 or older.

“Last legislative session we had historical firsts. The elder parole bill is closer to my heart because every day I speak about it, I’m reminded of the people who passed during my decades of incarceration. The bill passed the Correction Committee in the Assembly and the Crime Victims, Crime and Correction Committee in the Senate. A bill of this nature has never passed out of committees in both houses.”

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.