- Incarceration’s Front Door: The Misuse of Jails in America (Feb. 2015) is a report from the VERA Institute of Justice which documents how U.S. jails have become warehouses for the poor, ill, and addicted.
- Shadow Prisons: A private and profitable corner of the federal prison system thrives after a long-ignored offense is prosecuted – documents the privatized system of immigrant prisons.
- Sticker Shock: Calculating the Full Price Tag for Youth Incarceration (Dec. 2014)
– this report from the Justice Policy Center looks at the long-term consequences of incarcerating young people, typically at a cost of $100,000 per year.
Also see Hidden Costs of Youth Incarceration Nationwide Estimated to Run between $8 Billion and $21 Billion Each Year (Reuters: Dec. 2014) - Ron Sider has just published a new book: “Nonviolent Action: What Christian Ethics Demands but Most Christians Have Never Really Tried.”
The Winter 2015 issue of The Plough includes an interview with Ron Sider: “Making Peace with Just Warriors” which provides an overview of the book. - Eritrean Refugees – recently family members of Eritreans resettled here in the Lehigh Valley have been kidnapped as they try and escape Eritrea into either Ethiopia or the Sudan. Kidnappers are demanding as much as $60,000 from newly arrived refugees for the safe release of their family members.
- Rally for Good Jobs & Healthy Communities – 11:00 am – 1:00 pm, Feb. 26, 2015, State Capitol Rotunda
Organized by SEIU, Better Choices for PA, and other partner organizations
• Rally Flyer
• Facebook Event Page - Pennsylvania Tax Fairness Recommendations
Better Choices for PA has released a list of 19 possible tax law changes
(a) some which would close tax loopholes, and
(b) others which would make the tax system fairer for working families - Coalition on Human Needs: SAVE for All campaign to U.S. Congress Sign-On Letter
- protect low-income and vulnerable people
- invest in broadly shared prosperity that raises incomes across the economic spectrum
- increase revenues
- seek responsible savings by targeting wasteful spending in the Pentagon and elsewhere
- Charter for Compassion – international membership organization to create a world where everyone is committed to living by the principle of compassion
