Josh discusses recent victories in criminal justice reform in Philadelphia with activists Reuben Jones and J. Jondhi Harrel.

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A full PDF transcript of Episode 26 “Philly Free.”

My Guests

Reuben Jones is the Executive Director of Frontline Dads, A Just Leadership USA Fellow and the director of their #CloseTheCreek campaign.

J. Jondhi Harrell is the Executive Director of The Center for Returning Citizens and the visionary behind a project in development called The Village.

Notes From Episode 26

The News

I wrote a piece about changing sentencing reform so that the core part of the reform is tied to addressing structural racism.

The guide to all 65 of my recaps of Orange Is the New Black should get you ready for the Season Premiere in a few days.

Reuben Jones Interview

Reuben Jones is the Executive Director of Frontline Dads in Philadelphia.

Both Reuben and Jondhi are Just Leadership USA Fellows.

Reuben worked at the Pennsylvania Prison Society.

Reuben discussed working with both the Leon Sullivan Trust and the Pan-African Studies department at Temple University.

There is a lot of press discussing the Coalition For a Just DA that resulted in the election of Larry Krasner. Some of the press talked about how broad-based the coalition was.

I think Reuben also made reference to what has come to be called the “Krasner Memo” where Mr. Krasner ordered his prosecutors to change the ways that they charge crimes in Philly.

I was not able to find the 88.7% figure that Reuben referred to, but there is solid evidence that Pennsylvania has very high racial disparities.

Philly does still have the highest incarceration rate of a city in the USA, but the number is falling.

I believe this is the trailer for the documentary Beyond The Wall.

The Creek doesn’t technically still take prisoners, and I think they have zeroed out the inmate population. This is a huge victory for criminal justice reform.

#CloseRikers is one of the most important campaigns run by Just Leadership USA.

J. Jondhi Harrell Interview

Jondhi Harrell is the Executive Director of The Center for Returning Citizens in Philadelphia.

Jondhi and Reuben were both involved in the Change the Hustle campaign.

This is a really good article about Jondhi’s approach and philosophy of reentry.

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