Time for Pa. to Re-examine Life Without Parole

February 20, 2016 | Angus Love, Esq. | The Legal Intelligencer

The national mood on criminal justice issues has dramatically changed in the past few years. Fear of crime and personal safety are no longer leading political concerns as the economy and terrorism have taken their place. This past July, President Obama became the first U.S. president to visit a federal prison when he went to the El Reno Federal Prison in Oklahoma. In September, Pope Francis visited the Curran-Fromhold Correctional Facility in Philadelphia during his first visit to the United States. He addressed the inmates and staff and called for more empathy and compassion in our sentencing practices. Former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder instituted several significant reforms at the U.S. Department of Justice aimed increasing police accountability, reducing the harsh consequences of the drug war and minimizing racial disparities in sentencing.

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As city jail deaths rise, will reforms help?

November 3, 2015 | Dana DiFilippo | Philadelphia Daily News

Jamella Parks had been hooked on drugs for nearly three decades before she tried to sneak $68.52 worth of toiletries out of a Logan Rite Aid in January. It was far from her first arrest: Her record is riddled with crimes, mostly misdemeanors like prostitution and shoplifting, she committed to feed an addiction she couldn't shake.

This time, though, the arrest would be her death sentence.

Although she could have been freed on just $300 cash bail, the 43-year-old North Philly woman instead spent nearly six months behind bars before dying, in custody, of cancer.

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Agreement Reached On Conditions for Mentally Ill Inmates

January 13, 2015 | Lizzie McLellan | The Legal Intelligencer

The Department of Corrections has agreed to reform its conditions for inmates who suffer from mental illness.

A settlement between the DOC and the Disability Rights Network of Pennsylvania spelled out a number of conditions that the state agreed to implement within the corrections system, including psychological evaluation of patients and a limit on when and for how long mentally ill inmates can be confined to a restricted housing unit.

The DOC also agreed to pay the DRNPA $750,000 in costs and attorney fees, according to the settlement agreement.

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The Legal's Diverse Attorneys of the Year—2015

June 2, 2015 | The Legal Intelligencer

Earlier this year, The Legal's editorial staff set out to select our latest group of Diverse Attorneys of the Year, our attempt to shine a light on the outstanding work being done by minority attorneys across Pennsylvania, whose work is sometimes overlooked by a profession still catching up when it comes to diversity.

SU MING YEH

Yeh is the managing attorney of the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project, an organization dedicated to providing assistance to incarcerated or institutionalized low-income people whose constitutional rights have been violated within the institution. Her work has seen her successfully argue before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in recent years. In addition to her legal representations, she is president of the Asian Pacific American Bar Association of Pennsylvania and has long been co-chair of its Marutani Fellowship Selection Committee, which provides stipends to Asian-American law students so they can take summer internship positions with public interest organizations or government agencies. She chairs the Philadelphia Bar Association’s Public Interest Section and serves on its Judicial Retention and Selection Committee, which has been busy this year, with 15 open judicial positions and dozens of candidates in Philadelphia. She also co-chairs the bar’s Civil Rights Committee.

Want to save money, Gov.-elect Wolf? You can start by trimming prison costs

January 13, 2015 | Angus Love and Ann Schwartzman | PennLive

The great French novelist, Victor Hugo, once observed that "to open a school is to close a prison." Gov.- elect Tom Wolf's campaign promised to replace the funding cut in education by Gov. Tom Corbett. He should heed Hugo's words in his quest for more school funding and balancing a budget with a predicted $2 billion deficit.

The Pennsylvania Department of Corrections has been the single largest growth area of the Commonwealth budget for many years perhaps decades.

It is time to rein it in as other states and the country have done without compromising public safety. It is one area where a bi-partisan consensus can be reached and money can be saved.

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It Is Time to Reform Laws on Marijuana Use

December 22, 2014 | Angus Love | The Legal Intelligencer

In 1934, Harry Anslinger, the nation’s first drug czar, led a campaign to outlaw marijuana. Previously, it had been used for a variety of medicinal purposes and was subject to local ordinances. Anslinger mounted a public relations campaign to achieve his goal of criminalizing the drug. Some suggested the campaign had racial overtones, especially Mexican Americans who were often portrayed as menaces to society when indulging in marijuana. Others suggested the campaign was bankrolled and publicized by William Randolph Hearst to eliminate hemp as an industrial competitor to his considerable timber/paper holdings. The movie “Reefer Madness” symbolized the campaign of fear and distortion.

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'The New Jim Crow' to Be Explored at Annual CLE Day

November 24, 2014 | Su Ming Yeh | The Legal Intelligencer

The Public Interest Section of the Philadelphia Bar Association is set to present its Annual Public Interest Law Day CLE Program on Dec. 10 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. at the Pennsylvania Bar Institute, CLE Conference Center, Wanamaker Building, 10th floor, Philadelphia. This CLE program will offer six substantive and two ethics CLE credits and will present a wide array of hot topics in public interest law. It will be followed by the Public Interest Section's Annual Awards Ceremony and Reception at the Marriott at 1201 Market St., Philadelphia, in the Independence Ballroom, where the Hon. Louis H. Pollak Award will be presented to retired Judge Edmund Spaeth. The Andrew Hamilton Award will also be presented.

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PILP Hosts Russian Activists

June 4, 2014 | Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project

On June 4, 2014, the Pennsylvania Institutional Law Project met with 5 Russian Human Rights Activists at the behest of the US Department of State International Visitor Leadership Program. The group was interested in learning about best practices of nonprofit organizations such as the PILP. They also were interested in exchanging ideas and techniques that increased self-sufficiency and sustainability.

They also expressed an interested in joint international projects between the PILP and themselves. Finally they were interested in our sources of funding.

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