Pittsburgh residents are showing their desire to dismantle mass incarceration. A recent referendum banned solitary confinement in the Allegheny County Jail. Chemical and militaristic weapons were also banned at the jail. All in the last year. Now, demand is rising to decarcerate our prisons and bring home our elders.
Over the last year we grew. We listened. We organized. And we fought and won. And now we need your help to keep the momentum going.
When initially sentenced as a child to between 40 to 80 years in prison, Kevin Butler struggled to grasp what a virtual life sentence meant. It seemed like the beginning of forever, a time too long to understand. An exceedingly rare commutation brought him freedom after 32 years of that sentence.
Mid-day on September 30, 2021, community members and lawmakers gathered outside of Philadelphia City Hall around the 12-foot bronze Octavius Catto statue for a press conference to gather support for the newly introduced Senate Bill 835 that would establish geriatric and medical parole in Pennsylvania. Several movement partners came together to host the event, namely …
The author of the following piece, Jon E. Yount, died by suicide at State Correctional Institution Greene in 2012 while serving a life sentence imposed during 1966. Yount wrote this piece in February 2004 while incarcerated at State Correctional Institution Huntingdon. In this article, Yount reveals the political nature of the erasure of the possibility …
The Origin Story of Life Without Parole in Pennsylvania Read More »
By: Charles Crowe, staff writer at the San Quentin News This piece was originally published in the August 2021 edition of the San Quentin News, a newspaper written and produced by incarcerated men at San Quentin State Prison in California. “Life without parole (LWOP) sentences are steadily replacing the death penalty across the United States,” …
Life-Without-Parole Sentences Slowly Replacing the Death Penalty in America Read More »
This bill has been introduced in the Senate but is not law. We at Straight Ahead want to see the bill become law, as it would allow the possibility for parole for many older and sick people in prisons, including those who might not be covered by other reform bills. This was written and last …
Unpacking SB 835: Who has a chance at freedom from medical and geriatric parole? Read More »
This bill has been introduced in the Senate but is not law. We at Straight Ahead are fighting for it to become law, as it would essentially eliminate life without parole sentencing. This was written and last updated July of 2021. Bills can sometimes change after being introduced. Here’s what the bill does The bill …
Unpacking SB 135: What does the Death By Incarceration bill do? Read More »
Ian Manuel grew up in Central Park Village in Tampa, Florida. In 1991, when he was 14 years old, Ian was sentenced to life without parole for a non-homicide crime in which he shot and wounded a woman. Ian served 26 years in Florida prison, including 18 years in solitary confinement. The Equal Justice Initiative …
My Time Will Come: A Dialogue on Transformation and Death by Incarceration Read More »
This year is my first father’s day. But for the decades I spent incarcerated in an Alabama prison, I dreamt of him every day. I’ll spend the day at church, parading around the baby the congregation had been waiting for—one that I’ve been waiting for much longer. I’ll probably reminisce on the birth of my …