Thursday, August 4, 2016
Originally Funded by Open Society Foundations, ACLU Shifts Gears in Campaign to Cut Jail Population
The American Civil Liberties Union is retooling an ambitious, donor-funded effort to reduce incarceration across the country, parting ways with the project’s director and shifting its emphasis from the ballot box to the courtroom, reports BuzzFeed News.
Alison Holcomb, who was tapped to head the Campaign for Smart Justice when it was launched in November 2014 with a $50 million gift from the Open Society Foundations, abruptly left the post in late June, as did her deputy, Jill Harris.
The ACLU will also downplay an initial emphasis on ballot measures to enact reforms in favor of its more traditional tactics of lobbying and litigation...