Abolitionist Law Center

Abolitionist Law Center ALC is a movement lawyering and organizing project that defends human rights and challenges incarceration and other state & structural violence Thank you.

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TODAY in Pittsburgh! Join us & fellow community members standing up for human rights at Allegheny County Jail as we push...
09/01/2026

TODAY in Pittsburgh! Join us & fellow community members standing up for human rights at Allegheny County Jail as we push for decarceration.

With the departure of Warden Wingard, ACJ has an interim warden, former deputy warden Connie Clark, who at last month's public meeting stated she aimed to continue improving conditions at the jail.

Some ACJOB officials had delayed action on creating a policy to ensure that the families of incarcerated people are notified when their loved ones are hospitalized. So jail officials went ahead and did it themselves. This policy also makes it easier for attorneys to know when their clients are hospitalized and for the family to provide necessary medical information.

In response to this progress, the sheriff removed county sheriffs from doing hospital runs & watching over incarcerated people in the hospital. This has created a manufactured staffing crisis designed to force the jail to rescind the policy while also increasing lockdowns—affecting recreational time & creating a hostile environment.

Show up this afternoon to support progress at ACJ & oppose cops standing in its way.

Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board – monthly public meeting
🗓️ Tues. 9/1 | 4–6 PM
📍County Courthouse: 436 Grant St, 4th Floor Gold Room

We are proud to announce the promotion of three ALC staff attorneys in recognition of their leadership, their many accom...
09/01/2026

We are proud to announce the promotion of three ALC staff attorneys in recognition of their leadership, their many accomplishments, and their years of service with our firm & in our movement.

Nia O. Holston, now managing attorney, represents people impacted by the carceral state in federal and state courts. She maintains an active and varied caseload that includes prison and police litigation, appellate representation of individuals sentenced to die in prison, and compassionate release matters in Pennsylvania. Nia has worked as co-counsel on a class action challenging inhumane conditions in Philadelphia’s jails, and represents West Philadelphians who challenged the Philadelphia police department’s excessive and militaristic use of tear gas and other force during the George Floyd protests in May 2020.

Rupalee Rashatwar, now managing attorney, litigates post-conviction criminal appeals, class action litigation, and civil rights litigation related to solitary confinement and wrongful deaths. She has also developed expertise in Pennsylvania’s compassionate release law, having litigated more than 20 such cases.

Quinn Cozzens, now senior staff attorney, works primarily on ALC's Release from Prison docket and ending death by incarceration. He was one of the attorneys who represented Derek Lee in his PA Supreme Court appeal, which ruled that mandatory life-without-parole for felony murder is unconstitutional, and was the lead researcher and writer for "A Way Out: Abolishing Death By Incarceration in Pennsylvania."

Their expertise, compassion, and commitment to our clients & the movement are an invaluable part of ALC's legal team.

Should incarcerated people be subjected to 130 degree temperatures inside prisons that lack air conditioning in hot weat...
08/27/2026

Should incarcerated people be subjected to 130 degree temperatures inside prisons that lack air conditioning in hot weather?

Should anyone?

If we disrupt the idea that "justice is done through punishment that is the infliction of suffering on all or most of the punished population," are there basic rights we all share that could help us imagine what an abolitionist world might look like?

Earlier this summer, Public Seminar published an interview with Anna Terwiel, author of Prison Abolition for Realists, which "views prison abolition as a constantly evolving political framework with goals that are within a collective reach. Speaking with Madeline Trice, Terwiel discusses environmental hazards within prisons, 'agnostic abolition,' and how prison abolition can 'spark the imagination' to think deeply about the things we all deserve, incarcerated or not."

We pulled these excerpts, but please read the full interview at the link in the comments.

And share your thoughts!

Pennsylvania has long stood apart from nearly all other states for having a mandatory sentence of life without parole fo...
08/18/2026

Pennsylvania has long stood apart from nearly all other states for having a mandatory sentence of life without parole for 2nd-degree murder.

Also known as felony murder, the charge is brought when someone participates in a felony during which someone dies, even if the defendant did not intend to cause the person’s death—which is why the charge is 2nd-degree murder, not 1st.

In nearly 90% of cases, the underlying crime is a robbery or burglary.

When the PA Supreme Court ruled these automatic death by incarceration (DBI) sentences for 2nd-degree unconstitutionally cruel in March, it gave PA's General Assembly 120 days to change the law & provide relief for those now serving these illegal sentences. But the Democratic-controlled House & the Republican-controlled Senate failed to do so before the July 24 deadline.

Whether that solution now comes from the PA Supreme Court or a compromise bill this fall, the 1,000+ Pennsylvanians currently serving the sentence should all be granted individual resentencings and/or parole board review.

Determining appropriate sentences on a case-by-case basis is supposed to be how a "justice" system operates.

Meanwhile, district attorneys & public defenders in counties all over PA – especially DA Larry Krasner in Philadelphia, where more 2nd-degree cases are from than any other PA county – are considering what will come next.

Past experience & research show that most serving DBI sentences will have redeemed themselves for the terrible mistakes of their youth & should come home.

Our lawmakers must stop fear-mongering & grandstanding, and devise a solution that recognizes that reality.

Every day, more than 36,000 men & women are housed in one of 24 prisons in PA. Currently & formerly incarcerated survivo...
08/11/2026

Every day, more than 36,000 men & women are housed in one of 24 prisons in PA. Currently & formerly incarcerated survivors have stated again & again how important letters of support are to their well-being. Letters are also important strategies to build relationships, organize across prison walls, and have been critical to social movements everywhere.

Join us in responding to letters from people on the inside who are facing grave human rights abuses & seeking support. Solidarity with prisoners now!

Inside/Outside Letter-Writing Night
Thur 8/13 | 6–8 pm
Ross Commons: 229 N. 34 St., 2nd Fl.
The space is wheelchair-accessible.

Our letter-writing nights take place on the second Thursday of every month.

08/11/2026

After nearly a half century spent battling the US criminal justice system, political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal is taking his fight for freedom to the United Nations.

The Abolitionist Law Center, Center for Constitutional Rights, ACLU, and other legal groups, are calling on the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to review the many miscarriages of justice involved in Abu Jamal’s 45-year journey through the US’s prison system. At age 72, Abu Jamal is among a growing prison population that has aged within a cruel incarceration system and remains behind bars.

Bret Grote is a founder and current legal director of Abolitionist Law Center and lead counsel for Mumia Abu-Jamal. He explains why Mumia’s team is employing this strategy. Subscribe for as little as $4 a month to watch the full interview at risingupwithsonali.com.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled mandatory death by incarceration (life without parole) sentences for felony murder ...
08/11/2026

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled mandatory death by incarceration (life without parole) sentences for felony murder in Pennsylvania to be unconstitutionally cruel.

Even if they were still legal, one key metric makes clear how wrong-headed they are: age.

If you look at the 1100+ individuals who are detained in PA prisons for 2nd-degree murder, a charge that can be brought against people who didn't kill or intend the death of anyone, 3 out of 4 of them were charged before the age of 25 – the time it takes for human brains to fully mature.

They made a terrible mistake in their youth. But they aren't murderers & they deserve a chance to prove that in a court or to a parole board.

Nearly all of them – more than 95% – are nearing or are past 50, the age when recidivism data makes clear they would not be a public safety threat.

Republican state leaders who are pushing to keep these individuals incarcerated for the rest of their lives are doing so only to perpetuate a carceral system based on punishment & cruelty rather than rehabilitation & redemption.

It is an agenda devoid of compassion & common sense.

Pennsylvania can, and must, do better.

PITTSBURGH — Join fellow community members tomorrow 8/6 in holding Allegheny County officials accountable for the inhuma...
08/06/2026

PITTSBURGH — Join fellow community members tomorrow 8/6 in holding Allegheny County officials accountable for the inhumane treatment of those held at the county jail.

We must demand protective oversight of this maximally vulnerable population as we push for decarceration.

Allegheny County Jail Oversight Board – monthly public meeting
Thur. 8/6 | 4–6 PM
County Courthouse: 436 Grant St, 4th Floor Gold Room

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Braddock, PA

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