Keystone Today

Jorge and Victor Torres have each served more than three decades behind bars. The brothers, who are 60 and 56, were sentenced to life for a 1988 conviction on conspiracy to distribute heroin and conducting a continuing criminal enterprise.

The Buried Alive Project supports the brothers’ clemency petitions to President Donald Trump and notes that the 12 other co-defendants have been released. The Torres brothers also have the support of the federal judge who sentenced them.

“In more than 32 years on the bench, this is the first time that I have supported a commutation. But it is the first time that I have encountered convicted individuals whom I have sentenced that have rehabilitated themselves so completely and have rejected their criminal pasts so resoundingly,” said U.S. Circuit Judge John M. Walker.

The brothers were involved in a conspiracy to distribute heroin in a street-level, large-scale network operating mostly from the South Bronx. Jorge used money from the conspiracy in his real estate business, a shopping mall he owned in Puerto Rico, and three gas stations in which he was part owner. Victor used his money in privately-owned or family-owned businesses. In 1986, they stopped managing the heroin conspiracy and were arrested in June 1987.

The super kingpin statute mandated a life sentence, which Judge Walker handed down.

During their 31 years of incarceration, the brothers received a single disciplinary infraction for having a messy room during renovations. They have constantly worked to better themselves.

They are regularly asked to volunteer for programs that bring the public into contact with the prison. For six years, they facilitated Reaching Out to Provide Enlightenment (ROPE), working with juveniles ordered by judges into the program. The duo were handpicked by staff members to participate in the program.

They have the support of family members upon their release.