Reforming Philadelphia’s overcrowded prison system
Listen 00:31:52Guests: Blanche Carney, Julie Wertheimer, Marie Gottschalk
The MacArthur Foundation just awarded Philadelphia a $3.5 million grant to implement programs aimed at reducing the city’s prison population. Currently, 7,000 of Philadelphia residents are imprisoned and 70% of these inmates are African-American. Today, we discuss why prisons are so overcrowded, and what can be done to correct this ongoing problem. Guest host Mary Cummings-Jordan welcomes the newly-appointed Philadelphia commissioner of prisons, BLANCHE CARNEY, as well as , JULIE WERTHEIMER, chief of staff for Philadelphia’s deputy managing director for criminal justice who is directing the grant initiative. Also joining us is MARIE GOTTSCHALK, political science professor at The University of Pennsylvania and author of Caught: The Prison State and the Lockdown of American Politics.
WHYY is your source for fact-based, in-depth journalism and information. As a nonprofit organization, we rely on financial support from readers like you. Please give today.
Brought to you by Radio Times
Radio Times
WHYY's Radio Times is an engaging and timely call-in program that tackles wide-ranging issues of concern to listeners in the Delaware Valley.
Subscribe for free
Ta-Nehisi Coates on ‘Between the World and Me’
Air Date: January 18, 2016
Listen 00:48:46
Obama, Gun Violence, & Gun Solution Narratives
Air Date: January 6, 2016
Listen 00:48:44
Ta-Nehisi Coates on ‘Between the World and Me’
Air Date: October 16, 2015
Listen 00:48:46