March 3, 2022 PITTSBURGH, PA As abolitionists, we have a responsibility to highlight police and prosecutors who abuse state power to “intimidate and coerce” independent jurists and elected officials whose policies reduce the carceral state and ensure constitutional safeguards against reckless, dangerous law enforcement officers and oppressive practices. We are…

ALC Staff Attorney Dolly Prabhu calls for decarceral initiatives including abolishing use of probation detainers and prohibiting incarceration due to technical violations, poverty or homelessness We are disheartened to learn that Pennsylvania’s Senate Bill 913 was voted out of the Senate on Wednesday, December 15th, in a 46–4 vote on the senate floor. We applaud the four senators who listened to community members and opposed this terrible attempt at Probation reform in Pennsylvania. SB 913…

TO SIGN ON TO THE LETTER, PLEASE VISIT OUR FORM HERE: bit.ly/BanGarciaSignOn To submit a public comment to the Jail Oversight Board, please click here. The deadline for public comment is Sunday September 19. Community Organizations, County Residents Call on the Jail Oversight Board to Ban Joseph Garcia and C–SAU from Allegheny County Jail September 14, 2021 Jail Oversight Board To the Honorable Members of the Jail Oversight Board,

On Monday September 6, 2021, six Palestinian political prisoners who were jailed by the settler-colonial Israeli occupation, liberated themselves from their unlawful detention. …

The following statement was issued in coordination with Philly Anti-Repression on June 1, 2021 by members of the Vaughn 17 and other incarcerated community members subjected to abuse, neglect, and solitary confinement at SCI-Phoenix. For those who are new to the Vaughn 17’s struggle for self-liberation, here is some context…

This verdict is not about “justice.” This verdict is not about “accountability.” This verdict is a testament to the political force of the masses, of colonized peoples, in the face of state-sanctioned terror. It’s about making it known to all cops trembling in their boots, “You are not welcome here.” …

This is a first in a series of articles by Abolitionist Law Center’s Executive Director Robert Saleem Holbrook on the day to day practices of Abolition and the influences of the Black Radical Tradition on Abolitionist practices within the Pennsylvania prison system. “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s…

The End of Cash Bail: Statement from ALC Court Watch We seek the abolition of cash bail in Allegheny County — and everywhere else in the US colonial project. We believe cash bail contributes to a violent system of apartheid policing and punishment, and exacerbates economic precarity and poverty by governance thru debt. We recognize cash bail as a feature of racial capitalism that benefits white people, the ruling class, and state power thru parasitic exploitation and dispossession of Black people and poor community members — not as a legitimate pretrial condition for securing one’s appearance in court.

by Dolly Prabhu, Staff Attorney for The Abolitionist Law Center A shortened version of this article appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s op-ed section on January 3, 2021. On Friday December 18, 2020, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s Editorial Board published an article criticizing activists for calling to defund the Pittsburgh police. It…