About Us
“When groups go for criminal justice reform, they usually go for the low-hanging fruit. We’re not going for the low-hanging fruit. We’re going to chop the whole damn tree down. That’s what makes us different.”
– Saleem Holbrook, Executive Director
We are restoring justice
Straight Ahead is taking the abolition movement to the Pennsylvania state capitol. We are building a decarceration movement through statewide organizing of those people impacted by carceral violence, and direct lobbying to free people from prisons.
We are working to pass legislation that brings people home to their communities. Our work involves both alternative forms of justice and political education to transform the way we think about the carceral system and resolving harm.
Straight Ahead + Abolitionist Law Center
Our roots are in the movement
Straight Ahead emerged from the organizing and court battles of our sister organization, the Abolitionist Law Center (ALC). We developed out of the movements to abolish death by incarceration and solitary confinement in Pennsylvania including the formation of the Human Rights Coalition (HRC) and the Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration (CADBI). Our leadership is made up of formerly incarcerated people and those most impacted by the prison system, as we believe the people closest to the problem know best how to create solutions.
Straight Ahead’s namesake is an ode to the now-deceased Black revolutionary, political prisoner, beloved mentor, abolitionist thinker, and a surviving member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army, Russell “Maroon” Shoatz. His signature salutation “Straight ahead!” sought to spur the unfinished project of abolition. We keep Maroon’s contributions to this project foremost in mind.
We strive toward abolition
Pennsylvania has some of the harshest sentencing in the world, mandating life without parole for both first- and second-degree murder chargers. Currently, there are only three ways for people serving a life sentence to be released: commutation, exoneration, and death. For this reason, we refer to life without parole as a death by incarceration (DBI) sentence.
Pennsylvania also has one of the oldest incarcerated populations in the country because of DBI sentencing. People arrested at age 18 are still sitting in PA prisons at age 65 for no other reason other than perpetual punishment. We believe every person is capable of change and no one deserves to die within the violence of the U.S. prison system.
Straight Ahead believes in building abolition. To us, that means a society where we invest funds directly in our communities instead of prisons, and resolve harm through healing rather than more harm.
Photo by Emmai Alaquiva
Our paths to decarceration
Straight Ahead works to pass legislation that offers a possibility for parole where none currently exists. This could change the lives of the more than 10,000 people who are currently serving long or lengthy sentences that, without parole reform, will likely end with their death in prison.
To accomplish change, we are taking four strategic paths: direct lobbying, community organizing, electoral work, and defending the democratic process to ensure the will of voters is respected.
As a 501(c)(4) organization, we are able to directly lobby politicians to push for legislative change, to urge the defeat of candidates who don’t serve our communities, and to support the election of abolitionists and our allies.
Deep community organizing gives this movement real power. We have seen how the communities hit hardest by incarceration are the same ones that have lost many loved ones to gun violence. We believe that those communities have deep stakes in these problems and are closest to the solutions.
Our Survivor Justice Network seeks to build a base of families across Pennsylvania who are impacted by homicide and DBI sentences, and who are interested in a justice that heals and transforms. Survivor justice is grounded in an understanding that violence comes from overarching systems that harm communities. Real accountability, healing, and transformation require centering the needs of communities.
Straight Ahead also conducts trainings, political workshops, community meetings and rallies to develop strong advocates and bring people together on a path toward abolition.
You can join us
We can’t take down the powerful mass incarceration system without support. You can get involved in the movement by connecting with our organizers. Those who can support financially can keep us going by making a donation.
Together we can free us.
STRAIGHT AHEAD!
