Our Purpose:
The purpose of the Prison Advocacy Unit is to present a vigorous program of non-litigation advocacy on behalf of Individuals in Pennsylvania’s county jails and state prisons. We advocate for incarcerated individuals and groups to ensure that:
1) The policies under which they live are fair, proper and promote the treatment of them as human beings in a civilized society.
2) The institutions in which they are held have proper oversight by the community and the public.
3) They obtain necessary medical and mental health care.
Our Work:
We collaborate with community partners to reduce population in the jails and prisons and improve conditions of confinement; Work to increase the rights of those in custody; and endeavor to ensure that the rights they have are recognized and enforced by penal authorities
We believe that it’s in the public’s interest to shine a light on what happens inside the walls of penal institutions. To that end, we work to provide information concerning:
- jail policies, practices, and reports, as available through right to know or open records’ requests,
- basic demographic information about the people detained in our county jail,
- the reasons for their confinement and
- the length of their incarceration.