How Meek Mill’s REFORM Alliance Is Taking on America’s Probation System

For some, Meek Mill’s public probation battle brought an issue into their periphery that they had previously given little thought: the American legal infrastructure nightmare that is probation.

In the latest episode of Complex News Presents, the very real ways this facet of a criminal justice system in desperate need of unified overhaul is explored. The most recent Bureau of Justice statistics show that an estimated 4.5 million adults are currently on probation or parole in the nation.

“A lot of times we focus on the people and what we don’t understand is that when systems are broken, the people don’t matter,” State Rep. Jordan Harris said during a discussion about what some consider the arguable futility of people working for betterment within that same broken system. As Harris explained, the system itself must first be overhauled. 

“We get confused with the fact that a broke system, regardless of the folks, is gonna stay broken,” he said.

See the full episode up top, which also includes REFORM Alliance’s Alyssa Onley, Reginald Smaller, and Matthew Brady.