from Decarcerate PA
Philadelphia, PA – At 12 pm on Saturday, May 25th, a broad coalition of community groups, nonprofits, labor organizations, education advocates, and formerly incarcerated organizers will rally in Love Park to kick off their 113-mile march from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. The “March for a People’s Budget: Stop Prison Expansion Now!” will last for ten days, as members of the grassroots coalition, Decarcerate PA, make their way across Southeastern Pennsylvania to the state capital, where they will rally on June 3rd as the legislature returns to debate the budget. The marchers are demanding that the General Assembly take a stand against Pennsylvania’s out-of-control prison growth. In particular, they are asking legislators not to grant the Department of Corrections its requested $68 million increase in funding while prison construction continues, and to cancel the $400 million prisons slated to be built on the grounds of SCI Graterford in Montgomery County.
“Pennsylvania does not want, does not need, and cannot afford any more prisons,” said Decarcerate PA member Brian Mertens. “We want to see our taxpayer dollars invested in the things that make our communities stronger, like education, health care and social services, not in building more prison cells.”