The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania filed a federal lawsuit today alleging that Montgomery County violated the ACLU-PA’s First Amendment rights by denying ACLU lawyers access to people held in the county jail.

Ten people who are currently incarcerated in facilities in the Philadelphia Department of Prisons have filed a federal civil rights class action lawsuit against the city and the department over the conditions of the city’s jails.

Today, three criminal legal reform groups issued a statement in response to Governor Tom Wolf’s announcement that he plans to use his powers of reprieve to make eligible for release some 1,500 to 1,800 incarcerated people.

In the wake of the global pandemic, three people detained at the Allegheny County Jail filed a federal class action lawsuit today against the county, seeking relief from the dangerous conditions putting them and others at risk of exposure to the novel coronavirus and the disease COVID-19.

HARRISBURG - Today, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied an emergency request asking for a reduction in county jail populations filed by the ACLU of Pennsylvania on behalf of the Pennsylvania Prison Society and five people detained in county jails across the commonwealth.

HARRISBURG — The ACLU of Pennsylvania filed an emergency request asking the state Supreme Court to use its “King’s Bench” power to protect public health by ordering county common pleas courts to release some people from county jails.

HARRISBURG — The ACLU of Pennsylvania sent a letter to Pennsylvania Department of Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine on Friday, urging the department to issue guidance to all stakeholders in the criminal legal system regarding the coronavirus pandemic. 

Three criminal legal reform advocacy groups sent a letter today urging Governor Wolf to take all executive actions within his legal authority to release as many people from Pennsylvania’s state prisons as possible, as part of the commonwealth’s response to limiting the spread of the coronavirus.

Three prison reform groups sent letters to every county jail, federal prison, and immigration detention center in PA as well as the PA Department of Corrections urging evidence-based responses to the coronavirus pandemic, with an expectation that the jails and prisons will be transparent.