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“This event is a continuation of Senator Street’s Redemption Tour to Reform Life without Parole in PA and focused on families of incarcerated people who have lost loved ones to violence “ HARRISBURG, PA (October 24, 2019) – On October 23, Senator Street joined over...

By Ashley Nellis

Trina Garnett was 14 years old when she killed two people in Chester. Garnett had been abused and neglected for most of her life, suffered a serious intellectual disability, and was homeless at the time of her offense. Despite these challenges, the girl was tried in adult court for the murders and sentenced to life without parole. She remains in prison today, 40 years later.

By Kimberly King

My daughter recently asked me what should happen to people who hurt others. There’s no easy answer, but as someone who lost one brother, Damani, to murder and another, Terrell, to prison, I know revenge and justice are not the same thing. Damani is gone. Terrell is serving a sentence of life without the possibility of parole, which is death by incarceration. He is also gone. No matter how sorry he is, no matter how much he changes over time, he will die in prison without his family.

Harrisburg, PA – PA Senator Sharif Street (D-Philadelphia) was joined by over 400 advocates, led by the Coalition to End Death by Incarceration and a bipartisan coalition to pass Senate Bill 942 which empowers the Parole Board to review life sentences in PA. ...

By Sarah Anne Hughes

HARRISBURG — Hundreds of people who support legislation that would give Pennsylvanians sentenced to life without parole a chance at release came to the capitol this week, expecting a victory. They didn’t find one.

ByKatie Meyer, WITF

A bill that would end Pennsylvania’s frequent use of mandatory life-without-parole sentences has hit a wall in the state Senate

The night before the bill was set to be voted out of committee, sponsor Sharif Street–a Democratic Senator from Philadelphia–got word it didn’t have enough support. The committee didn’t ultimately hold a vote.

By Katie Meyer

(Harrisburg) — A bill that would end Pennsylvania’s frequent use of mandatory life-without-parole sentences has hit a wall in the state Senate

The night before the bill was set to be voted out of committee, sponsor Sharif Street–a Democratic Senator from Philadelphia–got word it didn’t have enough support.

The Inquirer Editorial Board

Our prison system does not provide a snapshot of crime in this country. It’s a snapshot of policies and practices that are a combination of politically expedient, profit-driven, racist, and absent of larger strategy or meaning — to say nothing of being divorced from actual crime rates.

By Samantha Melamed

For State Sen. Sharif Street, the most promising sign in his quixotic bid to reform Pennsylvania’s life-without-parole system came in the form of a call from Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-backed libertarian political advocacy group.

By Stacy M. Brown | Tribune Harrisburg Correspondent

In January, Gov. Tom Wolf proudly announced the number of inmates in the Pennsylvania state prison system dropped for the fourth consecutive calendar year.

By Tara Murtha | Women’s Law Project

Pennsylvania is one of seven states and DC where women who kill their abusers may be sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, except in the rare case of a gubernatorial pardon.

By John Baer | Philly.com

State Sen. Sharif Street lives a block from the North Philadelphia house he and his three siblings grew up in at 18th and Diamond Streets. He recalls being dropped off for first grade the first year his father, former Mayor John F. Street, started on City Council, 1980.

By John N. Mitchell – Tribune Staff Writer

In the ongoing battle for criminal justice reform across the state, Pennsylvania Sen. Sharif Street took to the streets of Chester on Thursday to promote a bill that would end life sentences without the possibility of parole.

By John N. Mitchell – Tribune Staff Writer

In the ongoing battle for criminal justice reform across the state, Pennsylvania Sen. Sharif Street took to the streets of Chester on Thursday to promote a bill that would end life sentences without the possibility of parole.

Calling it the “Redemption Tour,” Street was joined by state Rep. Jordan Harris, Chester Mayor Thaddeus Kirkland, member of the Chester City Council and community advocates in the inaugural rally of what is a plan to canvas the state in an effort to raise awareness of PA Senate Bill 942.

By Annette John-Hall, WHYY

Elizabeth Geyer has been talking herself hoarse trying to change Pennsylvania’s criminal justice laws.

She says a bill stalled in the Pa. Senate Judiciary Committee is the only hope her boyfriend, George Trudel, has to get out of prison.

Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – Senate bill 942 aims to give prisoners sentenced to life without parole a chance at redemption.

At the State Capitol, a rally to give some Pennsylvania prisoners a second chance. A bill in the Senate would allow people sentenced to life in prison to be considered for parole after 15 years.

A Pennsylvania lawmaker is leading an effort to end life without parole sentences, which would make his the first state to do away with the permanent punishment.

For the first time in a generation, Pennsylvania prisons are releasing convicted murderers by the dozen.

In the last year, 70 men and women — all locked away as teens — have quietly returned to the community after decades behind bars. They’re landing their first jobs, as grocery store cashiers and line cooks, addiction counselors and paralegals.

HARRISBURG — Qu’eed Batts, who at age 14 killed another teen in Northampton County, has again won a new sentencing after the state Supreme Court on Monday threw out the life-without-parole prison term he twice received, a ruling celebrated by advocates for juveniles.

Last year, Seth Williams was riding high. It was before the more than $160,000 in gifts he’d accepted had come to light, and before the recent indictment alleging that, among other misdeeds, he’d stolen from his mother. Before all that, Williams was receiving national accolades after announcing he would seek new sentences for those serving juvenile life without parole (JLWOP) and would no longer seek the sentence in subsequent cases.

In Pa., being sentenced to life without parole is equivalent to being sentenced to death. This Tuesday, a coalition of advocates will rally in Harrisburg to support reforms once deemed nonviable.

Here’s the difference between capital punishment and life without parole in Pennsylvania: The first has taken three lives in its 40-year history. The second kills an average of 28 people on an annual basis.

Death in prison is not rare. In Pennsylvania, one in 10 inmates is sentenced to life in prison. Because state law gives them no possibility of parole, nearly all of more than 5,300 inmates serving life terms will eventually die inside prison walls.