Bring Donzell McCauley Home

My name is Pam Bailey, and I am the co-founder of More Than Our Crimes. One of the individuals in our network of individuals incarcerated in federal prison is Donzell (Donnie) McCauley, one of the most exemplary people I have ever had the privilege to know.

Donnie is serving a life sentence for fatally shooting a DC police officer. The officer came at him in the same neighborhood where his brother had been killed a year before, so when the policeman fired his gun, Donnie reflexively pulled out his own weapon and fired in return. At the time, he was 23 years old, an age when the brain’s ability to control impulses is still developing. Donnie had not been officially charged with any other crime before that day.

Donnie is now 51 and has spent the last 29 years in prison. He has completed every prison rehabilitation program he could access and has created classes for his peers in prison. In fact, in his current institution, the Big Sandy penitentiary in Kentucky, he is trying to convince the administration to allow him to establish a peer-support program called MEN.T.O.R.

Here it from some of the men who Donnie mentored:

Anthony "Pete" Petty (now free): I have a million stories about Donnie. For example, I will never forget when we were in the Challenge program together. It’s one of the BOP’s main rehabilitation programs, but I kept putting off doing it. Then Donnie went, and I finally said, all right, I'm going to go too. When they made Donnie a mentor, he said he’d get them to make me one too. I thought no way in the world would that ever happen. But Donnie started organizing activities and had me help, like I was his assistant. And after about six months, they made me a mentor too. Everyone had assumed I wouldn’t make it in the Challenge program for 30 days; they even had bets going. But because of Donnie, I showed them otherwise.

Jeremiah Mungo (now free): What stands out to me the most about Donnie is that he was always reading. His mind was never in prison. He always had a book and was willing to share it. He always knew something about almost everything. He'd challenge you in a quiet, subtle way to educate yourself, read more and contribute to any conversation you were around.

Donzell McCauley has spent nearly three decades in prison. He made the best of a harsh, abusive environment. And he has earned the right to come home. Please help us raise the funds to hire the legal assistance required to file the best possible compassionate release petition!