My Friend Should Have Been Released from Prison. Instead, He Died There of COVID-19.
James ‘Bumpy’ Bennett, who had twice survived cancer, was 71 and had served 48 years of his life without parole sentence.
Pennsylvania ACLU
Robert Saleem Holbrook
Pennsylvania Has Few Options to Release Elderly Prisoners as COVID-19 Spreads
Advocates have called on Governor Tom Wolf and state Department of Corrections officials to release elderly and infirm people from state prisons. But the law is limiting how quickly they can move.
Pennsylvania Public Defenders Not Reinstated Despite Public Outcry Over Firing
Montgomery County Chief Public Defender Dean Beer and Deputy Chief Keisha Hudson were fired last month after filing an amicus brief critical of the county’s bail setting practices.
Pennsylvania’s Crime Victim Definition Leaves Out Communities Most Affected By Crime
The state’s narrow interpretation gives too much weight to voices that support a punitive criminal legal system, advocates say.
Progressive Philly D.A. Larry Krasner’s Bail Reform Plans Seem Stalled, Advocates Say
Krasner’s office acknowledges ‘there’s room to move forward and do more.’