Valerie Gaiter
Valerie Gaiter, known as Val, spent about four decades in New York state prisons, many of them at Bedford Hills, and was the longest-serving woman in the state system. She trained service dogs for wounded veterans, ran the prison photography program, led an anger management program, and earned a bachelor's degree while incarcerated, and her brother Samuel said she had worked to prove she had changed. She died of esophageal cancer in August 2019 at age 61, in the prison unit of Mount Vernon Hospital, without ever being granted parole. Her family and friends say the cancer was overlooked and left untreated by prison staff, and that she could have been released on medical parole had her illness been treated as grounds sooner.
Cause of death, as reported: Died of illness (disputed; neglect alleged). Her family and friends say prison staff overlooked and left her cancer untreated, leaving her severely malnourished before she died, and her supporters say medical parole or clemency could have been granted sooner.
Reported by: family and friends.