According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philly has the highest incarceration rate
of the country's 10 biggest cities.
But two years ago, as part of a MacArthur grant,
the city made a commitment to reduce that number.
And it's working.
Philly's cut down its prison population by 18% since 2015.
"We were on our way to a good place."
"I have never seen so many people agree on one thing in my history as a councilman."
"And then there was a bump in the road, and it was called President Trump."
"From this day forward, a new vision will govern our land."
"The crime and the gangs and the drugs…"
"This American carnage stops right here and stops right now."
Joshua Glenn is an advocate in Philadelphia,
helping kids stuck in the criminal justice system find a positive way out.
Joshua says that in 2005, he was wrongly arrested for aggravated assault with a weapon,
and he ended up stuck in jail when he couldn't pay the $2,000 bail to get out before trial.
"I waited in jail for 18 months until my case was dismissed."
"They never really had evidence."
"The reason why the cops even targeted me was because of the community I lived in,"
"and they knew that I was part of a group of friends which they would call a gang maybe."
"Was there ever any question of your family being able to get that $2,000 together,"
"or was it just like, 'This is not happening'?"
"Look, I didn't even think about it."
"I didn't call my mom."
"I didn't even call anybody in my family because I knew they didn't have that money."
"We were living in a very dire, bad situation when I left."
"That's a part of the reason why I was in the street in the first place, you know?"
"And I wouldn't want them to raise that money."
"Even if they could raise that money, I know that would be all they had."
So without even being convicted of a crime, Joshua spent a year and a half in prison.
"What was going through your mind when you were getting arrested,"
"even just like the first night or few days in jail as you were waiting?"
"I was scared, you know?"
"I was petrified, you know?"
"It's just like the streets: you can sell drugs there, you can fight, you can hurt people."
"It's just a lot of drama, and all those things bring more drama."
"It was just a horrible experience."
Lawmakers in Philadelphia plan to prevent more people in Josh's situation
from languishing behind bars.
To find out how, I went to visit Councilman Curtis Jones, Jr.,
who is co-chair of Philadelphia's Special Committee on Criminal Justice Reform.
"We looked at our bail system."
"We were paying $132 a day."
"We could have, on average, if it's what, $34,000 dollars to incarcerate a year,"
"we could send someone to college for that money."
"And so we started looking at this madness."
"We said, 'We can do something different; we can do something better;'"
"'and we can do something less costly.'"
"And that's what happened at the lead of the MacArthur grant."
At a nearly 20% reduction, Philly was called a "top performer" by the MacArthur Foundation
and was well on its way to hitting its initial goal of a 34% reduction by 2019.
The city has achieved these early results by implementing reforms
like an Early Bail Review process for people accused of nonviolent offenses,
and decriminalizing marijuana possession and other petty crimes.
But in January, the political climate changed overnight.
President Trump's choice for Attorney General, Jeff Sessions,
has historically taken a draconian stance on non-violent drug crime.
In the 90s, as Alabama Attorney General, he pushed legislation that would have instituted
a mandatory minimum death sentence for drug dealers who are repeat offenders,
even those who only deal marijuana.
But he doesn't want to just go after dealers.
"And trying to send that message with clarity that good people don't smoke marijuana."
And as US Attorney General, he's doubled down on his tough-on-crime efforts and rhetoric.
"I have empowered our prosecutors to charge and pursue the most serious offense —"
"as I believe the law requires — the most serious, readily-provable offense."
"Are you concerned that you will not be able to meet the goal,"
"or not be able to do it as quickly, given Trump and Sessions?"
"So there's always concern; we will never be afraid."
"We are committed to criminal justice reform and providing restorative justice models"
"that work, that are data-driven, that can help not only reduce crime,"
"but also reduce our tax dollars."
"So we'll find a way to patch it together."
One of the next steps that many here hope they can still push through is an end to cash bail.
Bail is supposed to be an incentive.
You pay bail, and then when you show up for court, you get the money back.
The problem, according to Joshua and other activists,
is that too many people living in poverty find themselves in the same situation he did:
unable to pay and forced to stay in jail.
"Ending cash bail would be a definite way to reduce the prison population."
"I mean, most people are locked up and held in there just because they can't pay bail,"
"and that's solely the only reason."
"The money that we're spending to hold them in jail, if we could reverse that"
"to help them with pretrial services, I think that it'd change the whole process."
As an activist, Joshua remains somewhat skeptical of government efforts to solve criminal justice issues,
and he thinks that local voters need to push for deeper changes to the system itself.
"When I talk to folks on the corner, I say, 'Look: the DA race is more important than'"
"'the presidential race in our communities right now.'"
"'Because they're the ones that are locking our folks up.'"
"'They're the ones that are going to deal with our folks that are consistently'"
"'being targeted and going through the system, so we have to do something about it.'"
"And most folks I talk to are like, 'Alright, yeah, I want to get involved.'"
This year, advocates like Joshua Glenn got a DA candidate
who truly aligns with their cause: Larry Krasner.
A longtime civil rights attorney who has defended Black Lives Matter activists
and has sued the police 75 times, Krasner seemed like a long shot for Philly's district attorney,
but he quickly gained traction thanks in part to large charitable donations,
but also thanks to grassroots work from people like Joshua.
"A lot of people are locked up in our community, so they see the DA before they see the president."
"So yeah, they need to understand that."
"Do you want a DA that's going to help you change your life?"
"Or do you want a DA that's going to end your life?"
"And so yeah, that was just my main argument with them, and everybody I talked to was like,"
"'Look, I want to get involved.'"
"'I didn't even know the DA race was happening.'"
"'I didn't even know we voted DAs in here.'"
"Like, people don't know the process, you know?"
"And this is just about simple education."
And their efforts worked.
"Larry Krasner has won the Democratic primary for District Attorney in Philadelphia,"
"easily beating six other Democrats in the race."
Larry Krasner won the Democratic primary for DA,
and he's expected to sail through the general.
"There's a lot of things that need a new start in criminal justice,"
"and we intend to go very directly in the direction of integrity."
It was seen as a massive win for both criminal justice reform, and the broader effort
to use the power of local government to resist the policies of the Trump administration.
And Joshua says a lot more can be done.
"We met with groups all around the nation that are trying to end cash bail,"
"so I know it's not just Philly."
ANDY: "No, it seems like it's a real movement now." JOSHUA: "Yeah, it's a movement now."
"I have faith in people, you know?"
"And I think if we can cause a big ruckus, then we can get results."
"We have to change it."
"If we really want to have a safe society,"
"we have to change these policies that are set up to kill our communities."
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