By Rev. Al Sharpton
This week, I made a visit to
Chester State Correctional Institution in Pennsylvania. For about an
hour and a half, I met with Meek Mill, a 30-year-old rapper who is
currently serving a two- to four-year jail sentence for allegedly
violating a probation agreement stemming from a 2008 conviction. We
discussed the issue of criminal justice and probation and parole reform.
As I spoke with this young man, I thought about the countless known but
mostly unknown men and women who have been victimized by the justice
system in general, and by the parole and probation system in particular.
For decades, I have helped advocate for victims of injustice, from Michael Griffith’s family in the 1980s
to the families of Trayvon Martin and Eric Garner more recently. Meek
Mill is an extension of that fight. Today, there are thousands in
Pennsylvania — and untold numbers nationally — who are sitting behind
bars because of a supposed probation violation related to minor and
meager acts. America’s continuing fetish for incarceration (and disdain
for rehabilitation) is a national disgrace.
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Source: NBC News
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