It is past time to make more efficient use of Pennsylvania’s supervision resources by setting up low-risk parolees for continued success, not failure. Please support common-sense parole reform by signing on to this proposal. Only organizations may sign on... 

This $470 million proposal, which would be the largest capital project ever funded by the county, will not support a thriving Western New York nor improve the lives of its residents. We have four main concerns, detailed in our full letter:  • CONCERN 1: DEPARTMENT CULTURE & COUNTY CULTURE: Under at least two different sheriffs, the sheriff’s department has had a rate of an incarcerated person dying from medical neglect or other human rights violations every 4-5 months. For comparison,  Rikers Island has an average of about one death per month, despite an average daily population of over 10,000, so Erie County’s facilities are over twice as deadly as Rikers. A renovated incarceration facility won’t change the culture of repeated human rights violations, or address the multiple lawsuits against the sheriff’s office which are costing county taxpayers millions of dollars in settlements. In fact, shifting operations to Alden, away from community scrutiny, is likely to strengthen the culture of impunity. • CONCERN 2: DISTANCE: Moving jail operations to Alden would further isolate anyone in the facility, both staff and those incarcerated. Former Erie County Legislator April Baskin stated “[moving to Alden] will make it much harder for detainees to maintain contact with their family by significantly increasing the distance between their neighborhoods and where they are being detained.” People will be further from their homes and families (their support systems), emergency medical services, and legal representation. The distance will discourage medical professionals from applying to jail jobs, where there is already a 25% vacancy rate. Moving jail operations to Alden will also increase transportation costs because it would be irresponsible to simply release people in a remote community where they are not from. The sheriff has previously stated transportation is a recurring issue for getting people to and from court. Since only 47% of individuals are incarcerated for longer than a week in county facilities, costs for distal transportation, including vehicle maintenance and depreciation, are fiscally illogical. Although the Sheriff’s office has offered to partner with NFTA to make Alden more accessible, a similar program has already been abandoned once, and there are no assurances that, if revived, it would not be abandoned again. A genuine commitment to providing reliable transportation to those in the Alden facility would’ve resulted in this program already being restarted without the new construction proposal. In any event, an inaccessible facility with an unreliable bus is no substitute for an accessible facility.  • CONCERN 3: FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY & BREAKING THE REVOLVING DOOR OF IMPRISONMENT: The sheriff’s office stated in 2024 that about 60% of county [detainees] are treated for some type of mental illness, which is above the national average; moreover, Michael Phillips, the superintendent for jail management, admitted that “Jails weren’t meant to be mental health providers.” This suggests that the relatively well-funded sheriff’s department is expensively and ineffectively attempting to fill gaps created by the underfunding of other county services. Due to federal budget cuts, Erie County already faces increased spending in many sectors. Incarcerating a person is almost double the cost of providing needed housing or healthcare services Moreover, multiple studies demonstrate that communities with ample housing and healthcare resources experience less crime, and also that incarcerating someone without addressing the root reasons that they committed a crime merely creates a revolving door of repeated incarceration. According to April Baskin in 2020, “Multiple studies show that a detainee who maintains regular contact with family and friends is less likely to be a repeat offender”. Therefore, budgetary decisions should focus on keeping people in the community and on addressing root causes of crime. The county should be prioritizing investment in mental health services provided by appropriately trained medical professionals, who are adequately compensated for their expertise, and should be focusing on increasing beds in mental health facilities and substance use disorder facilities instead of on increasing jail beds. The county should also support and invest in alternatives to incarceration such as the Community Responder Model, the Treatment Court Expansion Act and the additional alternatives listed in the feasibility study. The Sheriff has repeatedly requested more beds at ECMC for people in crisis. Jail is no place for people who are detoxing (such as Sean Riordan), people with serious mental illness (such as William Hager), and people with severe chronic health conditions (such as James Ellis). It makes far more sense to expand capacity in existing healthcare facilities for these services than to build new jail beds. Were Sean Riordan, William Hager, and James Ellis placed in health care beds instead of jailed, they would most likely be alive today, and the county would not be facing multi-million dollar lawsuits for their preventable deaths. Investing even more county money into 156 new jail beds specifically for detox, acute and sub-acute mental health needs, and chronic health conditions is a playbook for ensuring additional lawsuits for years to come.  • CONCERN 4: LACK OF BUDGETARY TRANSPARENCY: The proposal does not include the project’s full cost. The feasibility study was commissioned by architecture firms but it omits demolition costs at either facility that would be vital for making an informed decision. It also does not discuss the expenses and complications that would be involved in demolishing ECHC, which (due to proximity to other buildings, city contracts, etc.) are likely greater than that of Alden. A similar plan to close ECHC already failed to demonstrate budgetary savings in 2020. Further, a commitment to Alden entails a permanent commitment to increased travel costs for, at best, one-time savings. Lastly, one of the noted “benefits” in the feasibility study of choosing Alden was that the facility has “ample room for facility expansion, if bail reforms are terminated and there is a necessity to increase bed space capacity in the future.” Which implies even greater spending as well as a lack of support for a law that has already reduced the jail population.

WHY ARE THEY TARGETING ATTORNEY MOSBY? Leo Wise began targeting Attorney Mosby under the Trump Administration. This is no coincidence. Wise was known for profiling and targeting Black elected officials since he worked on Capitol Hill where he hyper-focused on cases involving Congressional Black Caucus members from 2008 to 2010. As a federal prosecutor In 2019, Wise prosecuted police officers involved in corruption with the Gun Trace Task Force, but he failed to address the impact of the wrongdoing of the officers. Without pause, Mosby addressed what Wise neglected by identifying more than 2,000 cases involving the officers' malpractice, leading to a thorough review of the verdict within each case. After a very public disagreement that included Steve Schenning at DOJ, Attorney Mosby became a target of Wise who already donated to her political opponents while he was employed with the Department of Justice! This clearly demonstrates his evident bias, animus, and disapproval of Mosby, highlighting a case of malicious prosecution alongside his boss, Schenning and the US Attorney in Maryland at the time, Richard Hur.  In July 2020, Mosby boldly confronted former President Trump's threat to deploy federal agents to Baltimore following the murder of George Floyd. In an op-ed, Mosby vowed to prosecute any federal agents who engaged in unlawful actions against Baltimore citizens. Two months later, Attorney Mosby learned she was under federal investigation, a move widely perceived as retaliation for her courageous stance in protecting her constituents’ constitutional rights. Former Governor and now Senate candidate, Larry Hogan even gave money from the state to DOJ to prosecute “fraud related crimes” after public disagreement with Attorney Mosby where she called out his racist antics.  We demand a FULL Presidential Pardon for Attorney Mosby pursuant to Article II, Section 2 of the United States Constitution, which gives the authority of the pardon to the President. While the Biden Administration has used the power of the pardon in a rare 13 occasions, it is time for the President to right the wrongs of Trump’s Department of (in)Justice! President Nixon was pardoned by President Ford after actually engaging in wrongdoing. President Clinton pardoned his own brother. This Administration and the Obama Administration pardoned individuals who Attorney Mosby fought for in policymaking and in the courtroom.  It is OUR TURN to pursue justice for Attorney Mosby because, #JusticeforMarilynMosby, is justice for ALL of us.

Mental health for Black people can't continue to be policed, criminalized and/or incarcerated. Especially not when they are allowing white men to freely surrender from spaces after they have knowingly just murdered citizens who happened to be Black and are taken on a joy ride to get food just to add insult to injury or able to freely walk across state lines with assault weapons and murder citizens who happen to be Black and we can go on. So what about people like Reginald Johnson who didn't commit the crime at all? Who didn't take a plea because he wasn't guilty? Where is his reprieve? Today he is still on parole. He is on his 3rd marriage. Stability is a thing he fights for every single day because at any given moment he believes that it can be taken away from him because all of his life it has. Doesn't he deserve his FREEDOM? Let's help him secure that. Reginald can't get 27 years and 8 months of his life back. He can't get Kenya back. He can't get back the time he had to watch his mama be raped or tie his aunt's arm to aid in her getting high, but we can help him get his name back, his freedom back and move forward with a clean slate with his daughter, stepchildren, wife, grandchildren, his positive mental health and wealth and the work he continues to do serving youth through his organization YORRA--Youth Offenders to Reformed and Responsible Adults. Who Better...

By establishing a polling place at Grambling State University, we can remove barriers to voting and empower our students to exercise their democratic rights. This initiative will not only enhance the political participation of our student body but also foster a culture of active citizenship. Let us come together as a community and make our voices heard by signing this petition. Together, we can create positive change for the future of Grambling State University.

Too many black men are being railroaded in the Judicial System because of corrupt law enforcement and certain racist judges. DISBARMENT OF JUDGE DEBRA BLACKWELL IMMORAL UNETHICAL RULINGS...JUSTICE FOR CHRIS RANDALL Started April 5, 2023 On February 23rd, 2023, I along with my family witnessed Judge Debra Blackwell handout a Life sentence plus 20 plus 5 years to my son, Christopher Isaac Randall. My son was charged with Murder despite it being justifiable Self-defense. My son's ex girlfriend LaRhonda Ware called my son to meet her at her mother's home but already had a gentleman waiting in the dark for my son. The victim reached for his gun that was fully loaded with a bullet in the chamber and my son defended himself by shooting the victim before he had a chance to shoot and kill him. The gun was put back in the deceased's waistband before law enforcement and paramedics arrived. The Judge Debra Blackwell did not allow my son's paid Attorney to argue Self-defense at all. During the trial, it was discovered that the Judge Debra Blackwell, the Prosecutor Shameca Collins and State Attorney, Busby ALL were responsible for jury selection...that were ALL picked just 3-4 hours on the actual day of the trial. Juror#15 was closely related to the deceased and the Defendant. Judge Debra Blackwell verbally stated that it did not matter, in regards to the kinship between the juror and the deceased. My son stayed incarcerated for nearly 4 years at Adams County Sheriff office where the Sheriff Travis Patten, former Detective Stanley Searcy---now the Jail Administrator along with DA Shameca Collins collaborated a plot to railroad my son thru the Judicial System. The State used a Medical Examiner by the name of Mark LeVaughn whose under investigation and had been placed on Administrative leave from Jackson crime lab to testify from an unknown location via video screen in the courtroom. There is speculation that the DA mailed/faxed evidence they gathered to the Medical examiner to align and collaborate the little so called evidence they claim to have had so LeVaughn could know what to say during Q & A during the trial. On March 29th, my son appeared for a hearing for a motion to have a new trial based on the fact that one of the Jurors was related to the deceased. Judge Debra Blackwell stated it did not matter and the sentencing was and still is being upheld. This particular judge has railroaded so many young black men while allowing rapists of underage kids to go free; all because of certain families dumping money into her PRE-ELECTION campaign. I am asking that anyone who has been railroaded by Judge Debra Blackwell, Sheriff Travis Patten, DA Shameca Collins to please sign this petition while I continue to make efforts to exonerate my son of all charges; as he only acted in self-defense. This was a retaliatory act on behalf of the Judicial system for my son NOT taking a PLEA BARGAIN; as well as his mother, Shaunta Randall writing higher-ups about all the wrong and malfeasance of judicial practices being exercised on all levels towards my son before his trial even began. I, Shaunta Randall faced the same scrutiny and injustice when his 16 year old brother, Jessie Elbert Taylor Jr. was murdered in 2014. My son, Christopher Isaac Randall, had several court appearances with an appointed attorney before his new attorney was hired. The old attorney which was the State's Public Defender did ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to gather evidence supporting my son's justifiable confession of self defense. My son has never been a trouble maker nor has any kind of criminal history. The Sheriff even setup a plot by using a jailer : also the mule for bringing Contraband into the County jail__ to add another charge to my son in November of 2022; 3 months before his actual trial in February of 2023. The Jurors were selected the exact SAME day the trial began on 02/21/23; might I add. I will not stop until all involved in this Judicial Performance of Misconduct and Malice be removed from their positions.

African American/Black women and girls have historically endured all manner of physical and psychological violence. The emotional, mental, psychological violence as well as physical violence aimed at African American/Black women and girls is traumatic and denies African American/Black women and girls their humanity. Discrimination in education, discrimination in the workplace, healthcare, and beyond has essentially created an American society that is hostile for African American/Black women and girls. The right to live free of harm and the failure of a systemic approach to create equitable policies with equitable outcomes for African American/Black women and girls is unacceptable. Systemic harm of any woman and girl compromises the safety of all women and girls. Stand for the freedom, liberation, and protection of African American/Black women and girls. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/black-americans-are-getting-support-for-reparations-from-other-multiracial-groups/ar-AA1cHmnm?ocid=msedgntp&cvid=223ff2abf7f9433ca3c9718dd2d57cfd&ei=13.

People should join in this effort across the nation because state sanctioned kidnapping in NOT exclusive to Tennessee! It's happening across the nation and families are being destroyed because of it not to mention how costly it is to fight back when you are faced with a false charge.of abuse and or neglect. It is also important because families aren't afforded the same protections that are guaranteed to those accused of criminal violations. This means it is easier and you are more likely to loose your child tha to go to jail for stealing a .35 cent pack of gum!!! Another gross compent of this cash for kids scheme is the money that is attached to removing children from their homes. There is a 15 month clock given to parents to get their children back before termination of parental rights proceeding begin to adopt a families child out. The cumbersome things asked of DCS and the many continuance they create can and do easily exhaust this time and you can be in jeopardy of loosing your child just because DCS hasn't prepared themselves and keeps stalling parents out on unnecessary programs and other requirements that they provide ZERO support for. The states bill over $2.8 million dollars a year in fist care cost, none of that goes to support families! If we are to continue to pay these cost we should have a say in how that money is spent and based on the data the money should be spent on providing support of families to reunify other than tear apart family bonds. https://www.npr.org/2021/12/27/1049811327/states-send-kids-to-foster-care-and-their-parents-the-bill-often-one-too-big-to-

Our youth are up next. There is no if, ands, or buts about it. And if they are to be the future, we have to ensure their present which means society's views of them have to change and the only way that happens is if we 1) traumatizing them, 2) stop automatically criminalizing them, 3) traumatizing them, again 4) getting them so call help for the trauma that we've caused 5) getting them so-called help from people who don't look like them and have no sense of their culture at all  They need to know that they are not seen as criminals or someone that we deem will do wrong. We all have bad days, but law enforcement shouldn't be the ones stepping in with weapons when we have teachers who can step in with love. As of now, 99% of the children incarcerated at the Youth Study Center are Black, and historically, since 2022, it has been 100%.  Police in our schools started during the Civil Rights era as a disguise to protect black children as a guise really to instill fear in them. Making schools, property safe is not the priority, or it shouldn't be. Making children feel safe should be. Schools have always been a place of refuge for young people. Teaching them how to keep each other safe and why is how community is maintained, not protecting the building and vilifying children. Especially Black children and making their consequences be as severe as prison.  Terminology like "informed trauma" is used often and very loosely to describe "urban" or Black children/students by so-called professionals surveying and/or observing them in order to claim the "understand" what they are experiencing and are prepared to "fix" them. Them being US. Us being WE. We being ME.  I am a Black mama proudly born in the 7th ward and raised in the upper 9th ward of New Orleans to a 2-parent household on most days. Educated at the historic William Frantz Elementary School, St. Mary of the Angels, McDonogh #35, Francis T. Nicholls, Dillard University, and Southern University At New Orleans. I AM NEW ORLEANS! NOT NOLA!  I have had to physically fight the police on my front lawn at the age of 15 for coming to my home which was a traumatizing experience while having police in my family. I have spoken out in protest against the police for years and celebrated and honored good police--those who did go against the grain and call out bad police. I lived in the city during a time when we had 2 police unions-- a Black one and a white one. What does that tell you??? REFORM DOES NOT WORK! You are killing us and you are using us to do it. Law enforcement in the schools has never been placed for our protection. The impact of criminalization on black youth causes a psychological effect. It causes higher rates of stress, depression, substance abuse, becoming hyper-vigilant, distrust of police, hyper-arousal, and even numbness. Children who live in heavy police areas, start to affect how much sleep they receive causing sleep deprivation and low sleep quality, this may cause them to come to school, not at their highest potential. We have to treat our children like children. Creating relationships to rebuild their sense of self. Why not give love a try? Why not allow them to know who they are and whose they are first? What's the harm in that? Why are white people so threatened by Black people knowing who they are? Why is it that they feel a need to be prepared to always contain a beast but not to open their arms to show love first?

We demand a second-degree murder charge be brought against Susan Lorincz What we know: (1) Susan Lorincz shot recklessly through her front door, with no regard for who was on the other side, including the children she had previously attacked. This should be reflected in the DA’s charges against Lorincz. (2) Before Susan Lorincz shot and killed AJ Owens, she threw an object at young children. This is clear and reckless malice against children and should be reflected in the DA’s charges against Lorincz. (3) Mounting accusations from AJ’s own children and neighbors indicate a pattern and history of bullying, racial slurs, and antagonism toward neighborhood children, even as they played nearby on land not owned by Susan Lorincz. The DA’s should consider Lorincz' hateful behavior in the charges leveled against her. We demand the repeal of Stand Your Ground laws in Florida. What we know: (1) According to Sheriff Billy Woods, Susan Lorincz attempted to invoke Stand Your Ground immediately after shooting AJ Owens to death. (2) While there has yet to be a legal determination as to the application of Stand Your Ground in the killing of AJ Owens, Susan Lorincz’s belief that should could be defended under this statute represents the creation of a dangerous culture where residents shoot first and ask questions later. (3) Across the country, Stand Your Ground Laws are correlated with an increase in gun violence and racist attacks. These laws are associated with an increase of 700 additional homicides a year across the country. (4) Stand Your Ground & Shoot First laws put Black people in more danger: In Stand Your Ground states, White shooters are FIVE times more likely to be deemed “justified” when shooting Black victims than the reverse. AJ’s children were playing in a field next to one of the buildings in their housing complex, when one of the neighbors, allegedly the shooter, yelled at the children. The woman, who is white, is accused of calling the children racial slurs and ordering them to get off property that was not hers. After seeing her children in distress, AJ knocked on her neighbor’s door to understand what happened. AJ was shot through her neighbor's CLOSED door. We cannot overlook the fact that AJ was murdered just 60 miles from where George Zimmerman killed Trayvon Martin. While Stand Your Ground remains the law of the land in Florida and nothing prohibits Susan Lorincz from relying on the oppressive law as a defense, we must continue to push for its repeal. How many Black lives have been lost and murders justified by Stand Your Ground? In 2023, we witnessed the shooting of Ralph Yarl and the killing of Kaylin Gillis. In both instances Stand Your Ground emboldened individuals to use unnecessary violent and unjustifiable force in the name of self-defense. In Stand Your Ground states, white shooters are FIVE times more likely to be deemed “justified” when shooting Black victims than the reverse. It’s undeniable: Stand Your Ground & Shoot First laws put more Black people in danger! We must stand against this injustice or more Black people will die!

American consumers should join together in this campaign for change because together we can use corporations (a capitalism-based strategy) to force politicians they "own" to pass gun control legislation. Until then, people who join the campaign will not shop at malls, big box stores, other retailers because it's not safe to do so. An associated benefit of this boycott is that price gouging will stop due to lack of demand for goods.

As a minority so called blacks deal with injustice everyday. Being that so called blacks are in poverty leads to them not being financially able to afford an attorney. Therefore, several so called black men are thrown away in the prison system while being innocent. There's power in numbers and if we stand up and fight through the injustice done to the minority groups change will be made. Mr Brown has children and if he isn't exonerated his children will grow up without a father. Please help bring Mr Brown home to his children.