Meek Mill broke down in tears as he spoke to the media following the passage of his Pennsylvania probation bill into law.
The new law, pushed by Meek, JAY-Z, Michael Rubin, and their REFORM Alliance, will, for the foreseeable future, result in fewer Pennsylvanians being returned to jail for technical probation infractions.
After the House passed the measure, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed the law on Thursday, December 14, making it official. This is the REFORM Alliance’s 18th victory in its 11th state. To put it simply, Senate Bill 838 will bring about the required changes to Pennsylvania’s probation laws, facilitating compliance by those who have served time in prison and preventing future recidivism.
For Meek Mill, who has been embroiled in a legal bаttle ever since his 2008 gu𝚗 conviction, the cause is personal. 2017 saw him convicted of a technical probation breach and given a sentence of 2-4 years in prison.
He claimed, “I thought it was either me going to jail or me taking my son to school,” and then started crying. “It takes a lot, therefore I don’t want to become attached. It’s not necessary to clap. I’m at a point in my life we all grew up in the streets and we want to be better but they call us felons and send us back to jail.
“I’m proud of who I am now and the strugglе I had to put up to earn my respect throughout it all. Although many young me𝚗 follow me on the street and are unaware of my experiences, I feel cоmpelled to share this even if they already know that I don’t cry often.
Meek Mill was shocked that his feelings overcame him, even in the hours that followed the news conference, when he had finally composed himself.
“I don’t even know how I sobbed in my cell—I didn’t cry on the news! That’s what I needed,” he wrote.
Michael Rubin, CEO of Fanatics, added upon the bill’s passage: “AT LAST! We completed this five years later, which is really tҺrilling! The most surreal experience I’ve ever had in my life was sitting in the courtroom with Meek in 2017 while a judge sentenced him to 2-4 years for not committing a crime. It was then that I realized how flawed the criminal justice system is!
And Pennsylvania was the worst possible state. Fixing the broken parole and probation rules and removing one million people who shouldn’t be in the system while maintaining community safety was our primary objective when we launched @reform.
In a similar vein, REFORM had its first legal win in 2020 when Governor Gavin Newsom of California signed AB 1950 into law, therefore reducing the length of probation for felons.