26 Philly Free

Decarceration Nation (with Josh and Joel)

Josh talks with Reuben Jones and Jondhi Harrell about recent criminal justice reform victories in Philadelphia

My newest article is about taking a new approach to sentencing reform that ties reform directly to redressing racial disparity.

I have written recaps of all 65 episodes of Orange Is the New Black.

Reuben Jones is the Executive Director of Frontline Dads in Philadelphia.

Both Reuben and Jondhi are Just Leadership USA Fellows.

Reuben worked at the Pennsylvania Prison Society.

Reuben discussed working with both the Leon Sullivan Trust and the Pan-African Studies department at Temple University.

There is a lot of press discussing the Coalition For a Just DA that resulted in the election of Larry Krasner. Some of the press talked about how broad-based the coalition was.

I think Reuben also made reference to what has come to be called the "Krasner Memo" where Mr. Krasner ordered his prosecutors to change the ways that they charge crimes in Philly.

I was not able to find the 88.7% figure that Reuben referred to, but there is solid evidence that Pennsylvania has very high racial disparities.

Philly does still have the highest incarceration rate of a city in the USA, but the number is falling.

I believe this is the trailer for the documentary Beyond The Wall.

The Creek doesn't technically still take prisoners, and I think they have zeroed out the inmate population. This is a huge victory for criminal justice reform.

#CloseRikers is one of the most important campaigns run by Just Leadership USA.

Jondhi Harrell is the Executive Director of The Center for Returning Citizens in Philadelphia.

Jondhi and Reuben were both involved in the Change the Hustle campaign.

This is a really good article about Jondhi's approach and philosophy of reenty.