The holiday season is traditionally when the governor grants clemencies to either erase someone's criminal conviction or shorten a prison sentence.

So this week, activists will be calling on Governor Cuomo to start thinking about who deserves a pardon- and hoping the number of clemencies is more than in prior years.

But they are also hoping to see bigger changes to the criminal justice system in January when Democrats will control both legislative chambers.

David George and Laura Whitehorn are from the Release Aging People in Prison Campaign.