May 7th Criminal Justice Candidate Forum in Pgh

CONTACT: Ian Pajer-Rogers | 603-988-9775 | ipajer-rogers@aclupa.org

PITTSBURGH, PA — Candidates vying to win nominations for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in four districts in Allegheny County have been invited to participate in a forum to discuss criminal justice policies and how these policies intersect with other critical issues in our communities, including mass incarceration, housing, health care, disability rights, education, immigrants’ rights, policing, LGBTQ equality, reentry after incarceration, and more.

WHAT: Allegheny County candidate forum on Smart Justice

WHEN: Monday, May 7, 2018, from 6pm to 9pm

WHERE: First Unitarian Church of Pittsburgh at 605 Morewood Avenue

WHO: Candidates for Pennsylvania House Districts 19, 20, 21, and 34 have been invited to participate.

The forum will be an opportunity for candidates for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives to demonstrate their commitment to meaningful criminal justice reform that will seek an end to the disproportionate incarceration of people of color and people living in poverty who end up stuck in jail for weeks or months because they cannot afford cash bail.

Allegheny County is the second-largest contributor to the state prison system after Philadelphia, and it holds an average of 2,300 people in its county jail on any given day — many of whom are there simply because they can’t afford cash bail. Almost 50 percent of those people are Black, despite accounting for only 13 percent of the county’s residents.

The forum will also include an opportunity for voters in attendance to sign a pledge card committing them to educating their family, friends, and neighbors about smart justice and to ensure that they turn out to vote on May 15 and again in the general election in November.

This event is co-sponsored by Coalition to Abolish Death by Incarceration - West, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, First Unitarian Church, UU-PLAN, Alliance for Police Accountability, Elsinore Bennu Think Tank for Restorative Justice, P.O.O.R.L.A.W., Human Rights Coalition - Fed Up Chapter, Abolitionist Law Center, and Let's Get Free - Women and Trans Prisoner Defense Committee.