Schools Not Prisons at Philly Governor's Debate - Oct 1, 2014
Channel: Decarcerate Pa
Date: 2014-10-02

On October 1st, Governor Tom Corbett and Gubernatorial hopeful Tom Wolf came to Philadelphia for a closed debate at KYW Studios. Members of Decarcerate PA, POWER (Philadelphians Organizing to Witness, Empower, and Rebuild), Philadelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools, Fight for Philly, the Philadelphia Student Union, and ACT UP Philadelphia, and others gathered outside the radio station to let both candidates know we want PA’s next governor to end mass incarceration and start investing in our schools and communities.

During his time as Governor, Corbett has spent $685 million to expand Pennsylvania's prison system and has failed to deliver meaningful reform to bring people home from prison. Corbett has cut massive amounts of funding from public education and public services. He has cut General Assistance, put forward an inadequate Medicaid proposal, and advanced failed policies that harm young people, workers, incarcerated people, and people living with HIV and AIDS.

Can Tom Wolf do better? There are over 51,000 people in prison in Pennsylvania, and communities across the state have been devastated by the impacts of mass incarceration. And Wolf has said almost nothing about his plans to stop prison expansion and bring people home.