REDUCING AND ERADICATING PHILADELPHIA'S OUT OF CONTROL VIOLENCE

Violence, particularly gun violence, in the City of Philadelphia continues to rise at an alarming and traumatic pace. Statistics maintained by the Philadelphia Police Department (https://www. phillypolice.com/crime-maps-stats/) reveal that during a 28-day period spanning from 27 July 2020 through 23 August 2020, there were 359 reported incidences of shootings and 234 reported shooting victims. As of 26 August 2020, there were 297 homicides – an increase of 34% when compared with 221 homicides that were reported one year ago – on 26 August 2019. This year, over the course of eight months, 297 souls – our children, husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, brothers, sisters, friends, neighbors, and co-workers – have perished. It is a situation that has placed the nation’s fifth largest metropolitan area in a glaringly unwelcome spotlight as city officials, social services professionals and providers, community leaders, and concerned citizens relentlessly work to identify and resolve the root causes driving gun violence. When CNN published a report on the rise of violence in cities throughout the United States, its 11 August 2020 article blared the following headline: “Philadelphia Homicides Second Highest In The Country In 2020, Police Say” (www.cnn.com/ 2020/08/11/us/philadelphia-shootings-homicides-2020/index.html). 

 Reducing and eradicating- Philadelphia’s out of control gun violence is an “all-hands-on-deck” and “solutions-comes-from-all-places” proposition. Everything humanly possible is being done to reduce and end a life-extinguishing problem that has deeply rooted causative factors. However, are we sure that we have pursued all of our options? 

 Options in the form of numerous holistic, research-driven, and results-oriented solutions exist for reducing and ending Philadelphia’s out of control gun violence and await implementation. Where are the solutions? In prison. The souls who designed these solutions are model prisoners serving life without parole sentences at SCI Phoenix and members of its “inside-out” Social Justice, Reentry, and Criminal Justice Reform think tank – LIFERS, Inc. (http://lifrsincpa.org). Their solutions to reducing and ending gun violence have caught the attention of Presidential Campaign-level Senior Policy Advisors. On 17 February 2020, members of LIFERS, Inc. hosted a Senior Policy Advisors Presidential Campaign Criminal Justice Reform Forum Conference Call that was approved by the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections The National Policy Director for Pete Buttigieg’s Presidential Campaign were among the participants. For added measure, the Presidential Campaigns of United States Senator The Honorable Amy Klobuchar and former Massachusetts Governor and United States Assistant Attorney General The Honorable Patrick Deval expressed an interest in participating in future forums hosted by LIFERS, Inc. Members of LIFERS, Inc. at SCI Phoenix – who have a seat at the national public policy decision making table -- stand ready to proactively engage in community service through an “hands-on” implementation of solutions that address and resolve gun violence and its causative factors in Philadelphia. 

What am I proposing? Returning incarcerated souls currently serving life without parole sentences at SCI Phoenix -- members of LIFERS, Inc. (http://lifersincpa.org) -- to Philadelphia who (A) have a demonstrated track record of rehabilitation, (B) are model prisoners, (C) have – individually – served at least between 25 to 30 years of a life sentence without parole; and (D) are quite capable of successfully employing a holistic and solutions-based approach to reducing and ending traumatizing and out of control gun violence. 

What do we have to lose?