Abolitionist Law Center

Pennsylvania has some of the harshest sentencing laws in the country. Thousands are currently serving life without parole sentences. They will remain in prison, often for decades, until they die. As a result, the portion of PA’s incarcerated population that is elderly & in poor health has been steadily growing for years. Medical care in carceral facilities is typically delayed & substandard. Prison is just not an appropriate care environment for elders or people with dementia, end-stage cancer or heart disease, or other ailments. Yet few are ever able to access compassionate release, the state's medical transfer law that is supposed to allow such individuals care at home or in a medical facility. Our new report explains why. ??Read our report: https://lnkd.in/e7Ndg4y9

It's making national news: several men have filed a class action lawsuit against Dauphin County Prison (DCP) for a campaign of mass torture. >> https://lnkd.in/d8YCYmJh Angered by the presence of synthetic marijuana in the facility, the warden cut the power & shut off the heat for dozens of men being held in solitary confinement in November & December 2023. Prior to this act of collective punishment, officials confiscated legal paperwork, cut off communication with loved ones on the outside, and deprived people of basic necessities, including toilet paper, showers, & religious texts. The men were detained pretrial & hadn't been convicted of anything. The plaintiffs are seeking monetary relief & demanding a jury trial. Their lawsuit seeks accountability for Defendants’ unlawful & inhumane acts. Abolitionist Law Center & Kaufman Lieb Lebowitz & Frick LLP are representing them and filed the suit in federal court. You can make a year-end contribution to support ALC's work at bit.ly/ALCDec2024

At December's Cohort Meeting, our Prep Forward student-athletes gained valuable insights from Jordan Gilliam of Tech25, who explored tech industry career paths and shared pro tips for creating high-quality content using their cell phones. Additionally, students participated in the Abolitionist Law Center's NYE 3rd Annual Writing Campaign, crafting meaningful personal messages to incarcerated youth at Allegheny County Jail.

Project 2025's attack on your rights is underway. TODAY Congress will be voting on a bill that will give the Trump administration the power to defund any nonprofit organization it identifies as a "terrorist organization." Please take action at https://lnkd.in/gGw9H6mQ NOW to urge your US Representative to VOTE NO on H.R. 9495, which would grant the secretary of the Treasury Department unilateral authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of any nonprofit this administration doesn't like — without any explanation or evidence required. “This is about stifling dissent and to chill advocacy, because people are going to avoid certain things and take certain positions in order to avoid this designation,” the ACLU told the Intercept. "In the past year, accusations of support for terrorism have been freely lobbed at student protesters, aid workers in Gaza, and even mainstream publications like the New York Times," wrote the Intercept. “The danger is much broader than just groups that work on foreign policy,” said the National Iranian American Council Action. It could also target major liberal funders who support "peace groups who engage in protest. But it could also theoretically be used to target pro-choice groups, and I could see it being used against environmental groups." It could certainly be used against groups that support abolition and oppose mass incarceration. There is no limit. Please take action NOW — Protect your right to dissent! https://lnkd.in/gGw9H6mQ

Today we are holding space for each other, sending our love and freedom dreams to all who dare to RESIST. Tomorrow join The Movement for Black Lives post-election Community Call at 6pm ET to reflect on election results, breathe, & share strategy. With Straight Ahead/ALC’s executive director Saleem Holbrook & more! ??Thurs. 11/7 | 06:00 PM? Zoom Register at m4bl.link/Nov7

Last week, we connected with some of the most innovative minds at the Masters of Scale Summit. Our co-founder Alexander Billy represented Free Our Vote as one of only 40 early-stage founders selected for the Startup Accelerator program. Throughout the week, we heard from inspiring leaders, including President Clinton, Governor Wes Moore, Erin Gore from World Central Kitchen, Ariel Investments' Mellody Hobson, Moms First’s Reshma Saujani, Daniel Lubetzky of Kind, Bret Taylor of Sierra, and Reid Hoffman, founder of Masters of Scale. Three takeaways from the summit: 1 - Human-Centric Innovation is Key: Technology only scales impact when people are at its core, from design to decision-making. 2- Embrace Change as Opportunity: Progress hinges on adaptability, especially in fields as dynamic as ours. 3- Equity and Partnership Drive Real Success: True progress is built on fair practices and collaborations rooted in trust. As we advance Free Our Vote’s mission, these insights guide us. Our work aims to amplify voices often silenced, and we anticipate—and welcome—the changes ahead in the voting rights and criminal legal landscape. We’re grateful for our partners— Arizona Justice Project, AZ AANHPI For Equity, Campaign Legal Center, Greater Birmingham Ministries, Healing Communities PA, Abolitionist Law Center, When We All Vote, and more—whose dedication makes this journey possible. Thank you, Reid Hoffman and the entire Masters of Scale team, for inspiring us just days before Election Day! #MastersofScale #FreeOurVote #VotingRights #SocialImpact?

Philly — This Sunday afternoon, please join us for a conversation about political education in Pennsylvania's prisons & about community, communication, and care between bars. *Learning Together — a conversation with the founders of Address This!* ??Sunday, October 20 | 4:00–6:00 PM Making Worlds Bookstore 210 South 45th Street PHILADELPHIA Since 2010, Address This! has been facilitating correspondence courses focusing on collective political education in PA prisons. In Address This! courses, participants’ responses are transcribed and sent back out to the cohort, creating a shared learning experience even for people held in the most restrictive conditions. Address This! co-founders Saleem Holbrook (ALC executive director) and Emily Abendroth, along with early collaborators Felix Rosado and Iresha Picot, will talk about creating paths for collective learning and organizing on the inside. Full event info: https://lnkd.in/e9DQfceg

Last week, our executive director Robert Saleem Holbrook was at the White House, with other criminal legal system advocates. They were following up on the UN Human Rights Committee's 2023 recommendations that the US impose a moratorium on life without parole sentences. Those recommendations were the result of of a national delegation that Saleem that urged the UN to declare death by incarceration (DBI) a violation of human rights standards. The UN also then called on the US to create avenues of release for people currently serving those sentences. The Philadelphia Citizen has published a message from Saleem to Pres. Biden, urging him to use the remaining days of his presidency to free as many people with DBI sentences as possible. https://lnkd.in/eR_Z3RhM

Please join University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School Toll Public Interest Center on Wednesday, Sep. 25, 2024, as two of our staff attorneys, Rupalee Rashatwar and Nia Holston, discuss Pennsylvania's Medical Transfer Statute. Also known as compassionate release, this statute is the mechanism by which individuals who are incarcerated, terminally ill, and have a prognosis of less than 1 year to live may petition a criminal court to be released to a medical facility or to hospice care. The demand for this representation is intense as the number of aging people in PA’s prisons has grown exponentially as a result of the state’s draconian long-term sentencing laws. Compassionate release cases are a highly specialized and labor-intensive type of litigation, and ALC is developing a network of other firms and entities with whom we’re sharing our expertise so that more people can be assisted. This program has been approved for a total of 2.0 Substantive CLE credits for Pennsylvania lawyers.?CLE credit may be available in other jurisdictions as well. You can attend this event virtually or in person at: Tanenbaum 320, Penn Carey Law 3501 Sansom Street Philadelphia,?PA?19104 https://lnkd.in/eYtskNKc

We're #hiring a new staff attorney for our solitary docket for our Pittsburgh or Philadelphia office. Apply today or share this post with your network. https://lnkd.in/e6jjm8t2