Archive

Too many people in Pennsylvania are serving long prison terms that don’t make communities safer. There are plenty of people locked up like David Mandeville, who do not pose a risk to public safety yet languish in prison for decades because Pennsylvania’s laws don’t give... Read More

The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 reduced the disparity in sentencing for crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenses from 100:1 to 18:1. But true justice won’t come until the ratio is 1:1. Until then, thousands of people, more than 80 percent of them Black, remain... Read More

“I am not saying that I am innocent. I did some really foolish things and failed to reach out for help for my addiction. I broke my mother’s heart.” Celeste Blair’s path from childhood trauma to addiction to prison is all too common. At the... Read More

Jomari DeLeon made two drug sales over 24 hours, making less than $200. Kingpin? Hardly. Yet this first-time offender was sentenced to 15 years. Even the judge didn’t want to give her that much time. And making matters worse, the same crime today carries three... Read More

The judge at Chris Young’s trial described his life sentence as “way out of whack.” The absurdity of his punishment is matched, though, by the fierce passion for self-improvement and education that drives Chris now, even as he is doomed to die behind bars. His... Read More