Christopher Welsh, Delaware County’s public defender, calls for reform in the juvenile justice system.
All in Criminal Justice
There Is Only Us: Re-entry in Delaware County
In a new monthly column about criminal justice in Delaware County, county public defender Chris Welsh discusses the reentry into society of people who have previously been incarcerated in Delco.
Zoom Group Weighs the Future of Policing
“The demand of Black Americans is clear: ‘Stop killing us.’” This assertion by state senator and Swarthmore resident Tim Kearney (D-26) framed a July 28 Zoom discussion on ending systemic racism and reimagining public safety. Attended by about 80 people, the conversation was part of a “racial equity tour” sponsored by the Pennsylvania Senate Democratic caucus and co-hosted by Kearney and State Senator Anthony Williams (D-8). Swarthmore resident and civil rights lawyer Jonathan Feinberg and Swarthmorean contributor Stefan Roots, among others, also participated.
People Before Profits: How One Phone Call Launched a Movement to Deprivatize Pennsylvania’s Only Private Prison
Kabeera Weissman, who founded the Delaware County Coalition for Prison Reform (Delco CPR), expressed concerns at a 2017 phone-banking event about the George W. Hill Correctional Facility — the only private prison in Pennsylvania — to Delaware County Council members. The county payed GEO Group, the organization that manages the prison, approximately $50 million a year — about a sixth of the county’s total operating budget. At the time, she didn’t know much about private prisons, but she knew she didn’t believe in companies making profits by incarcerating people. That was the moment that sparked a movement.
2019: An Inventory
How to inventory a whole year? What to remind you of, and what to skip? What would you rather forget, but maybe shouldn’t? What have you already forgotten that might interest you to recall? Collecting (recollecting) these happenings and lives and milestones is a way to consider what we have accomplished and aspired to and worried about as a community, as we take the first steps into 2020. To think about where we have succeeded, where we have more work to do, and where we might want to start all over again.
Helping a Newly Free Man Adjust to a New World
Kevin Robert Evans expected to die in prison. Sentenced at age 17 to life without parole for his role in a botched and fatal robbery, the 61-year-old Chester native spent more than 43 years in Pennsylvania prisons. But in 2016, the United States Supreme Court overturned the automatic life sentences of all juveniles, and Kevin began to realize that his freedom might one day come. In May of this year, he was released, and now, with the help of some Swarthmore residents, Kevin Evans is building a life for himself for the first time.
Wallingford Presbyterian Hosts Prison Reform Panel
“Turning Towards Justice: Prison Reform and Personal Action” will be the topic of a panel discussion at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 20, at Wallingford Presbyterian Church, 110 Brookhaven Road. The presentation will focus on keeping youths out of prison, helping those in prison prepare for re-entry into society, and changing the overall system to lessen the number of incarcerated individuals.
Benefit at WH3 for Exonerated Ex-Prisoner
Elmer Daniels was released in December, 2018 from Howard R. Young Correctional Institute in Wilmington, Del. It was the day after his 57th birthday, and the first day he had spent as a free man since turning 18. After serving 39 years in prison for a crime he did not commit, Daniels is living and working in Elkton, Md. A fundraiser this Saturday night at waR3house3 will raise money to help Mr. Daniels buy a used car. A donation of at $20 per person is suggested.
Criminal Justice Reform on the Menu at Wallingford Presbyterian
On May 22 at Wallingford Presbyterian Church, Bobby Harris and Rick Lowe will talk about the work being done in the Delaware Valley to reform the criminal justice system.
Discussing Criminal Justice Reform in Delco
On April 24, 2019, Indivisible Swarthmore: Moving the Needle hosted a discussion at Trinity Church Swarthmore on the state of Delaware County’s criminal justice systems. Two guest speakers, Delaware County-based criminal defense attorney Wana Saadzoi and Montgomery County Assistant Public Defender Lee Awbrey, fielded questions from about 25 attendees about two main topics: The discretion of the people implementing our criminal justice systems and the effects of frequent pretrial detention and lengthy probation/parole supervision.