Referenda to Secure the Rights of Incarcerated People

Authors

Jaclyn Kurin

Abstract

(Excerpt)

In May 2021, Allegheny County became the first jurisdiction in U.S. history to ban solitary confinement at a jail by voter referendum. This article covers the drafting, passing, implementing, and litigating of voter referenda to ban solitary confinement and the use of weapons in correctional facilities in Pennsylvania. The benefits of voter referenda extend beyond recognizing the legal rights of those incarcerated and reducing mistreatment. This article explains how prior community engagement with key issues involving the Allegheny County Jail (“ACJ”) paved the way for the referendum’s success. Specifically, in the year leading up to the Allegheny County referendum, a local coalition of public interest law firms, incarcerated individuals and their families, social justice organizations, and journalists undertook various efforts to bring transparency to the conditions at the jail and lend legitimacy to the claims of mistreatment of incarcerated people. Journalists were connected with incarcerated persons who wanted to share their stories; law firms filed a class action lawsuit challenging the use of solitary confinement on persons with psychiatric disabilities at the jail; and local organizations worked with impacted people to educate the public about the jail’s harmful conditions. Thus, by election day, the public recognized the humanity of incarcerated individuals. Nearly 169,000 people, or 70% of voters, believed that the jail’s use of solitary confinement was adversely affecting those incarcerated and voted overwhelmingly to abolish it.