This is the latest in a series of pieces illustrating the human cost of New York's draconian Rockefeller Drug Laws (RDL).

Terrence Stevens, 38, is paralyzed from the neck down as a result of muscular dystrophy. The 32-year-old RDL ensured that a quadriplegic Stevens would face imprisonment at a maximum security prison for a decade of his life. The basis of his arrest - 5 ounces of cocaine found inside the bag of a traveling companion in a Greyhound bus he was on - underscores just how unjust these laws are.

When Stevens, confined to a wheelchair, entered the system in October 1992, the conditions to accommodate disabled persons were atrocious. Even if the cocaine had been Stevens', the mandatory 15-to-life sentence was as merciless as it could get for someone who would need to be bathed, dressed and turned over in his bed every two hours. For the first eight years of his sentence, Stevens received inadequate medical attention, and as a result, his spine curved, creating respiratory complications. Despite the severity of his disability, he became involved in and eventually became president of the Handicapped Educational Assistance Project, where he represented the disabled prison population. It was in this capacity that Stevens began his career of helping people affected by incarceration, and became an outspoken advocate for reform of substandard conditions for the disabled.

It wasn't until Stevens' mother, Regina Stevens of the group Mothers of the Disappeared, began protesting her son's sentence - and a New York Times reporter began writing about the excessive punishment that Stevens was being made to endure - that people began taking an interest in his plight. One of those people was retired New York Supreme Court judge Jerome Marks, who took a personal interest in Stevens' case and submitted a clemency application to the governor. When Governor Pataki granted Stevens executive clemency on Christmas Day in 2000, it was a gesture that acknowledged that the RDL oftentimes metes out a blanket punishment that many don't deserve.

After nearly ten years of incarceration, Stevens did not forget what he'd been through, or the people he'd met. As supervisor of Narcotics Anonymous meetings in prison, he was moved by the concerns of incarcerated parents who'd left their children behind.

"People don't realize that more than just one life is affected by the criminal justice system, and it's especially wrong when their only crime is that they've done harm to their own bodies as a result of drug addiction," Stevens said.

It was the stories of imprisoned parents, the haunting questions about the future of their children and the impact of the RDL on communities of color that galvanized Stevens to make a difference. With the sole financial support of two friends, one in the record industry and the other on Wall Street, In Arms Reach was born.

Filling a much-needed void, Stevens' nonprofit organization, housed at City College in New York, addressed the issues that children with incarcerated parents face. With In Arms Reach, Stevens managed to do what many able-bodied people could not. He established partnerships and developed tailored workshops for the 45 children enrolled in the program. One partnership, with the Sophie Davis School of Biomedical Education, places pre-med students in workshops that show the children the importance of making health a priority. The kids are also engaged in arts, music and mentorship programs in conjunction with organizations like The New School University, Hip Hop mogul Russell Simmons' Hip Hop Summit Action Network and Big Brother Big Sister of New York City.

A top priority for In Arms Reach is to keep the youth connected to their parents by ensuring that they send a letter a week to their parent, or by providing them with free visitation trips to see Mom or Dad. Working with Dr. Earl B. Moore and his son Julin Moore, Stevens is involved in setting up a "televisiting" project where kids can "visit" their parents remotely.

In Arms Reach has had to fill some big shoes, essentially becoming a surrogate parent to kids without a parent in their lives. Despite his disability and the perennial financial struggle to keep the organization alive, Stevens continues to provide the children with the love, encouragement and mentorship they need to make something of their lives in a society that would have otherwise written them off.

As a partner of the Alliance's campaign to reform the Rockefeller Drug Laws, Real Reform New York, In Arms Reach is but one of many organizations in support of true reform to the RDL. Right now, this coalition is calling for Governor Pataki to sign legislation that would allow about 500 nonviolent drug offenders convicted of A-2 level drug felonies to apply to be resentenced under last year's Drug Law Reform Act. If you are a New York resident, you can send a message to Governor Pataki now.

Passed in 1973 by Governor Nelson Rockefeller, the Rockefeller Drug Laws are widely understood to be the first and harshest mandatory minimum drug laws in the nation - under the RDLs, it is common for people convicted of first time nonviolent drug offenses to be sentenced to life in prison. In December of last year, the Alliance was instrumental in winning a small but significant sentencing reform bill which reduced the harshest of the penalties under these laws.

To learn more about Real Reform New York, visit http://www.realreformny.org, or to support In Arms Reach, please visit the website at www.inarmsreach.org.

Teri Weefur is Deputy Web Coordinator for the Drug Policy Alliance