This Wednesday: Rally in Philly for Second Chance Legislation

When the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled last month that mandatory life without parole for felony murder is unconstitutional, the Justices gave the state legislature 120 days to write a law with new guidelines. As of today, the legislature has 86 days left to act before their time is up.

We are holding weekly actions to pressure lawmakers to pass legislation that will bring the most people home from prison as quickly as possible. If you would like to stay in the loop about everything related to second chances for people with second-degree sentences, sign up here for updates.

This Wednesday, family members and supporters of people sentenced to Death By Incarceration for felony murder are celebrating our win at the PA Supreme Court that rendered mandatory DBI for felony murder unconstitutional. 

People directly impacted by this ruling will gather at the North Apron of Philadelphia City Hall at 1:00 PM this Wednesday to call on lawmakers to pass HB 443, which would provide parole eligibility after 25 years for everyone serving DBI for second-degree murder. We need the House Judiciary Committee to vote on this bill to protect the constitutional rights of over 1,100 people currently serving an illegal sentence.

We also invite you to join a call-in day in support of HB 443 from anywhere in Pennsylvania next Monday, May 4th. Sign up here for more information about the call-in day and future actions related to second chances for people with second-degree sentences.

The struggle against state violence is long, but we have an opportunity to bring a lot of people home in the very near future. We hope you’ll join us in the movement to make it happen.