Criminal Justice Reform

We are aware that these issues lead to devastated communities. Our focus is to promote programs to rehabilitate prisoners and assist returning citizens, support expungement clinics throughout the state, and help dismantle Life Without Parole.

Team Mission

We work to end:

mass incarceration, especially of people of color, due to unjust drug laws;
mandatory minimum sentences;
unfair administration of justice including over-policing, cash bail, and prosecutorial overreach;
educational apartheid;
substandard education;
poor access to employment

2023 Meeting Dates

Our Team meets monthly via Zoom, every month except as noted below, on the last Monday of the month, at 8 PM.

(no meeting in July or December)
January 30
February 27
March 27
April 24
May 29 (tentative)
June 26
August 28
September 25
October 30
November 27

To attend our meetings on Zoom:
From your PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android,
click this link:

https://zoom.us/j/7132347624

Or by phone:

1-408.638.0968 or 646.558.8656
Meeting ID – 713-234-7624

How We Work for “Good Government”

Our issues span both the state and local levels, and include these issues:

Pandemic Response: Our current focus is the impact of COVID 19 on inmates and staff of state prisons and county jails. These institutions are petri dishes for the spread of COVID. It is impossible to socially distance. We have signed on to a comprehensive list of demands of Gov. Wolf, the state legislature, DOC, and the Parole Board, all of which have a role to play in reducing the spread. Being imprisoned should not be a death sentence.

Ending Death by Incarceration: In PA, anyone found guilty of first- or second-degree murder is automatically sentenced to life without parole. The judge has no discretion to do otherwise. Thus, a person who was merely a lookout or getaway driver when a murder occurs is charged with second-degree murder. There are now more than 5,000 persons sentenced to die in PA prisons, many of them elderly. “Death by Incarceration” is expensive to taxpayers, as well as inhumane to the individuals affected.

Upcoming Events

CLICK HERE
to link to our Calendar!

Legislative Goals

Specific bill numbers/status coming soon

Defeat

Specific bill numbers/status coming soon

Resources

Abolitionist Law Center Report

A Way Out: Abolishing Death By Incarceration in PA (Full Report)
A Way Out: Abolishing Death By Incarceration in PA (Abridged Report)Legislative Talking Points

Comprehensive Resource Guides
(Compiled by Travis Farrell)

Anti-Mass Incarceration Resource Guide
White Privilege Resource Guide

Other Resources

Life Without Parole in PA
The Marshall Project
Mass-Incarceration Report
Starter Kit for Teaching

Probation and Parole Reform: Major reform is badly needed in this area. A failure to report a change is residence or employment can get a person sent back to jail. A majority of legislators in the last session supported reform, but the bill was
bottled up and then extensively amended in committee. This was a huge disappointment, and we joined our partners in opposing its passage.

Reform of Act 111: The legislation that provides binding arbitration for police and firefighters in lieu of the right to strike was passed in 1968. The binding arbitration determines pay raises and policy, and resolves disciplinary issues. In Philadelphia, more than 70% of the discipline cases that go to binding arbitration result in a reduced punishment and/or restoration of prior status. Two reform bills were introduced last session, one by a Democrat and one by a Republican. Stay tuned for a hoped-for collaboration.

Solitary Confinement: Our team joined the PA Council of Churches in support of a bill that would limit and reform its use in terms of frequency and duration. Numerous studies have documented the harmful psychological effects of long-
term solitary confinement.

Partner Links

ACLU PA
Allegheny County Jail Health
Justice Project (ACJ HJP)
Amachi Pittsburgh
Books through Bars
CLF Prison Ministry
Coalition Against Death By Incarceration (CADBI)
Decarcerate PA
Healing Communities
Let’s Get Free
National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT) – Pennsylvania
No215Jail Coalition
PA Council of Churches
Pennsylvania Prison Society
PIIN (Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network)
POWER
YASP – The Youth Art and Self-empowerment Project

Occupational Licensure Reform: We are happy to report success in this area in Pennsylvania’s last legislative session. Each licensing agency is required to revisit and revise its regulations, and make individualized decisions. Now, for example, returning citizens will be able to apply for a
barber’s license.

Additional legislative goals:

End the death penalty
Oppose mandatory minimum sentences
Bail Reform
Divest from for-profit prison industries
End prison gerrymandering (the bill introduced last session would use the inmate’s former residence, rather than prison address, for census and for establishing legislative districts)

Action Alerts

Check back soon for the latest updates!

In the News