Despite limited finances, Governor Tom Corbett is working on expanding prisons in Pennsylvania. Corbett’s administration plans a $400 million-plus project to build two new prisons in Montgomery County. Meanwhile, 23 Philadelphia public schools will be forced to shut their doors next year due to funding shortages. Are these really our priorities?
Decarcerate PA, a grassroots organization dedicated to ending mass incarceration in PA, won’t stand for it. The group is planning a 10 day, 113-mile march from Philadelphia to Harrisburg to protest, beginning on May 25th. Joined by others, including the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia Students Union, and Human Rights Coalition, the group will hold rallies in towns along the way and end the march in Harrisburg on June 3, when the legislature begins discussing the budget.
According to Decarcerate PA, Corbett claims the prison population is declining, yet his proposed budget includes a $68 million increase for the Department of Corrections, in addition to the $400 million prison construction project. Seeking “a people’s budget, not a prison budget,” the group wants immediate cancellation of the construction, full funding for education, healthcare, and social services, and for the legislature to vote no on any budget that increases funding for the DOC. With so many groups protesting, hopefully Corbett and the legislature will come to their senses and give the state what it really needs – reinvestment in the community.
