Pennsylvania

For Media Inquiries:
Tripp Laino, 202-999-4273
tlaino@famm.org

FAMM announces sponsorship of What Is Life? Podcast

What is Life? Features conversations with Pennsylvanians serving life without parole sentences

HARRISBURG – As part of FAMM’s three-decade fight against extreme mandatory sentences, it is sponsoring the podcast What is Life?, produced and hosted by Joshua Vaughn a senior reporter at The Appeal. (Vaughn is producing the podcast independent of The Appeal.)

“FAMM is always exploring opportunities for storytelling and advocacy, and this podcast aims to do both,” said Kevin Ring, FAMM’s president. “Pennsylvania has the country’s second-largest number of people serving life without parole, with more than 5,300 people serving those sentences. We hope that hearing the stories of people serving them will help people understand that all of us change and mature, and our laws should reflect that.”

Each episode features a conversation with a person serving a life without parole sentence in Pennsylvania, exploring the meaning of a life sentence.

“Too often we lock people away and put them out of sight and out of mind, which allows us to inflict significant punishments and dehumanize the people we harm,” Vaughn said. “Hopefully, through hearing these stories directly from the people dealing with the punishments we inflict, we can begin to grapple with the reality that incarcerated people are not monsters or animals. They are full, complex human beings capable of growth, change and redemption just like the rest of us.

“I am very thankful to FAMM for helping make this project possible. I greatly appreciate the willingness of FAMM to help me tell these stories that can be at times difficult and controversial but I think are vitally important as the nation thinks about what public safety looks like moving forward.”

What is Life? is available on all major podcast platforms and at WhatIsLife.us. New episodes are released weekly.

For nearly three decades, FAMM has united the voices of affected families, the formerly incarcerated, and a range of stakeholders and advocates to fight for a more fair and effective justice system. FAMM’s focus on ending a one-size-fits-all punishment structure has led to reforms to sentencing and prison policies at the state and federal level and is paving the way to programs that support rehabilitation for the 94% of all prisoners who will return to our neighborhoods one day.

###

FAMM is a national nonpartisan advocacy organization that promotes fair and effective criminal justice policies that safeguard taxpayer dollars and keep our communities safe. Founded in 1991, FAMM is helping transform America’s criminal justice system by uniting the voices of impacted families and individuals and elevating the issues all across the country.