Abolitionist Law Center (ALC)

Background and Activities

Abolitionist Law Center was founded by Pittsburgh attorneys Bret Grote and Dustin McDaniel. The organization coordinates with the Human Rights Campaign, American Civil Liberties Union, and other organizations to file lawsuits related to prisoners’ rights and police brutality in Pennsylvania, and to advocate for policies that defund police and prison systems. ^{2 3}

ALC engages in class action litigation and activism campaigns. The organization’s litigation programs strive to eliminate solitary confinement; release prisoners; expand environmental, health care, and political rights of prisoners; and expand prison educational programs. However, the ALC makes clear that its primary objective is complete prison and police abolition. ⁴

The organization joined a 2018 lawsuit against the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections seeking more rights and privileges for death row inmates, including Hepatitis C treatment. ⁵ ALC has filed numerous lawsuits on behalf of Mumia Abu-Jamal, a former Black Panther Party militant convicted of murdering a Philadelphia police officer. ^{6 7} It also filed a federal lawsuit that halted construction of a prison in Kentucky because of environmental concerns, but the project was revived in 2022. ^{8 9}

The organization regularly issues reports highly critical of the prison system and police, including one in 2020 titled Apartheid Policing in Pittsburgh: Why Defunding the Police Can’t Wait. ALC also funds several smaller prison abolition groups and campaigns. ^{10 11}

Support for Riots

The Abolitionist Law Center issued a statement after the 2020 George Floyd riots offering the organization’s “unqualified support” for protesters “rising up in rebellion in the name of Black Liberation.” In the statement, the organization encouraged the overthrow of “racial capitalism” and abolition of police and prisons “by any means necessary,” and declaring that “we support revolt.” ¹

The press release also advocated for decriminalizing possession of controlled substances, legalizing sex work, prohibiting arrests and incarceration for misdemeanors, and abolishing probation. The statement further demanded amnesty, debt forgiveness, and criminal record expungement for all individuals arrested during the riots. ¹

In a 2021 statement entitled “No Police,” ALC stated that its objective was the “total dissolution of police and racial capitalism” and credited the conviction of Derek Chauvin to “Black Rebellion and year-long, sustained organizing by Black and brown militants.” ¹²

ALC joined a lawsuit on behalf of hundreds of people arrested during the 2020 George Floyd riots that alleged the police had used excessive force. The lawsuit resulted in the city paying a $9.25 million settlement with no admission of wrongdoing. ¹³

People

Jamelia Morgan, the president of Abolitionist Law Center, is a professor at Northwestern Law School who works to develop left-leaning law school courses around the country. Morgan worked with a University of California, Irvine professor to require law students to complete courses on critical race theory, “racial justice”, and “intersectionality.” ^{14 2} Morgan has also stated that the “movement to deinstitutionalize” mental-health patients could serve as a model for defunding police. ¹⁵

Board member Rukia Lumumba is executive director of the People’s Advocacy Institute. Board member Jihad Abdulmumit is chair of the National Jericho Movement and a former member of the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army. Abdulmumit spent 23 years in prison for bank robberies. Board member Kempis Songster served 30 years in prison for murder. ²

Funding

Abolitionist Law Center reported $1.1 million in revenue in 2020, with $820,990 derived from contributions and $226,964 derived from legal fees. The organization’s 2019 and 2020 contributions represented a dramatic increase in revenue compared to previous years, which had only reached a maximum of $377,662 in 2018. ⁴

ALC reported expenses of $823,490 in 2020, with $628,619 devoted to program expenses. $175,000 was spent on executive salaries, and $265,454 was spent on other salaries and expenses. ⁴

The Open Society Foundations issued a $100,000 grant to ALC in 2020. ¹⁶ The Pittsburgh Foundation reported $2,000 in grants to the ALC in the same year. ¹⁷