January 23, 2019
Meek Mill, Jay-Z, Sixers owner Michael Rubin, Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and CNN commentator Van Jones announced a new organization Wednesday that will lobby for changes to state probation and parole laws across the U.S.
Jones will be the CEO of the organization, called The Reform Alliance, which Rubin said at an announcement event Wednesday will dedicate $50 million towards its efforts.
At REFORM, we #FightDifferent. Our collective disgust with the current state of the American criminal justice system is creating a powerful, growing alliance that spans different backgrounds, industries and political beliefs. pic.twitter.com/wg1uAZlbJ8
— REFORM ALLIANCE (@REFORM) January 23, 2019
“With this alliance, we want to change outdated laws, give people hope and reform a system that’s stacked against us,” Mill said at the event, per the Associated Press.
Mill himself is currently on probation. He was released from jail after five months last spring, and is free while his case goes through the appeals process with the Superior Court of Pennsylvania.
Last February, Rubin credited Mill with opening his eyes to the kinds of recurring problems hampering the country's criminal justice systems:
“The things that he told me all seemed so preposterous and crazy that they weren’t believable. Once he got to sent to jail and I started digging in, in a really aggressive way, they’ve all turned out to be true. You wouldn’t believe that these things could happen, especially to someone with his success, but they’ve happened time after time.”
And during an appearance on CNN last month, Mill discussed at length what he felt was wrong with the country’s current criminal justice systems:
"I spent time with men who had 28 months in prison for $100 bail. They weren’t even found guilty for their crimes, but $100 kept them in prison. The taxpayers had to pay money to keep guys like this in prison, and it was for a petty crime. Things like that never made sense to me."
Mill released his fourth studio album, “Championships”, in November.
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