Press Releases

Press requests should be directed to media@aclupa.org.

Latest Reports on Stop-and-Frisk in Philadelphia Show a Need For Continued Action By City and Police Leadership

The ACLU of PA, the law firm of Kairys, Rudovsky, Messing, Feinberg & Lin, and Seth Kreimer of the University of Pennsylvania Law School, released a new round of reports under a 2011 consent decree that requires the city of Philadelphia to cease unconstitutional stop-and-frisk practices. 

Ten People Incarcerated in Philadelphia Jails Bring Class Action Lawsuit Over City’s Failure to Address COVID-19 Spread

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.

ACLU Asks Court to Expand Immigration Detention Case to a Class Action Lawsuit to Protect More People from COVID-19

Lawyers representing 13 people freed from immigration detention by a federal court ruling in March have asked the court to expand the reach of that order by converting it into a class action lawsuit.
Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights

Advocates’ Statement on Governor Wolf’s Plan to Use Reprieve Powers to Deter COVID-19 Pandemic in Pennsylvania’s Prisons

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.

ACLU-PA Statement on Federal Court Ruling Freeing Medically Vulnerable People From Immigration Detention

A federal court in Harrisburg today lifted a stay, upholding its decision from earlier this week that ordered the release of 20 people currently held in immigration detention (two clients have already been released) in two county facilities in Pennsylvania.
Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights

Prison Reform Advocates File Class Action Lawsuit Against Allegheny County Over Jail Conditions and Increased Risk of COVID-19

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.

ACLU-PA Statement on Latest Federal Court Ruling Freeing People in Immigration Detention Amid Public Health Crisis

A federal district court today ordered the immediate release of 22 people in civil immigration detention in two county jails in Pennsylvania, the second such ruling in the last week.
Issue Areas: Immigrants' Rights

ACLU-PA Statement on Pennsylvania Supreme Court Rejection of Emergency Request to Reduce County Jail Populations During COVID-19 Crisis

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.