Bret Grote, legal director for the Abolitionist Law Center, joins the Beyond Prisons podcast to tell us about his organization’s work and what an abolitionist approach looks like for lawyers.

The conversation touches on the impact the Abolitionist Law Center has had in Pennsylvania and the work it’s done on solitary confinement, juvenile life without parole, health care, and more. We talk about political and politicized prisoners and the dangerous but common practice of withholding medicine and treatment in prisons.

Bret also shares his thoughts on the election of Larry Krasner as Philadelphia’s new district attorney and the movement to elect “progressive prosecutors.”

Bret Grote is the Legal Director of Abolitionist Law Center, and a licensed attorney in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He is a 2013 graduate of the University of Pittsburgh School of Law, and was recognized as the Distinguished Public Interest Scholar for his graduating class. He was the Isabel and Alger Hiss Racial Justice Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights in 2012. In addition to his work at Abolitionist Law Center, Bret has been a volunteer investigator, organizer, and researcher with HRC since 2007.

Follow the Abolitionist Law Center on Twitter @AbolitionistLC and visit their website at www.abolitionistlawcenter.org for more on their work and how you can support them.

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Music & Production: Jared Ware