Meek Mill Leads $20 Million Fundraiser for Prison Reform

After being freed from prison seven years later, Meek Mill has risen as one of the leading voices in the criminal justice reform movement. He partnered with Jay-Z and Fanatics CEO Michael Rubin to launch the nonprofit REFORM Alliance, which focuses on reforming probation and parole systems, which are designed to put people in a revolving prison sentence.

Their latest effort, the second Casino Night fundraiser at Ocean Casino Resort in Atlantic City was successful, raising over $20 million. Celebrities like Beyoncé, DJ Khaled, Machine Gun Kelly, Kevin Hart, Cameron Diaz, Robert Kraft, Ivanka Trump, and The Weeknd attended the Rite of Spring. Besides, there was a live auction and blackjack tournament; and as purpose set in, it was bigger than the music and flashing lights that filled the hotel lobby that night.

Meek Mill’s Story Regarding the Probation System

After released in 2018, Meek focused much of his efforts on the draconian nature of the probation rules—they penalized people for technical violations or what would be considered minor infractions. In Meek’s case, performing a wheelie on a motorcycle would be considered a probation violation in relation to his 2008 gun and drug charge. One technical violation sent Meek back to prison for five months, even Class of 2020 (Meek’s friend), was blown away by Meek’s re-incarceration. “He left with tears in his eyes,” Meek said.

Rubin later reflected that the entire process is deliberately designed to prevent people from ever really moving on successfully. “No one should have to be subjected to such long periods of parole and probation–no one should be sent back to prison for minor errors and mistakes which are not crimes,” he shared in an interview on NBC.

The idea that someone is late for a meeting or one of their friends is being watched on probation for their birthday party, and they are sent back to prison provides power to flame REFORM’s mission. Their legislation includes reducing the times of supervision, and limiting probation-related violations so that a probation officer can focus on actual risks to public safety.

Legislative Success And A Federal Movement

REFORM is proud to have helped pass 22 bills into law across 12 states, with perhaps two biggest legislative successes being Florida’s S.B. 752 and Colorado’s enacted parole and probation initiative, SB 103. Florida legislation passed and was signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis in 2022 significantly has created relief for potential criminal justice reform for 150,000 Floridians for the length of at least the next five years. This will allow people to reduce their sentence on probation or parole based on educational or work credits accrued.

Next, their focus also turned to Washington, where REFORM is pushing a piece of federal bipartisan legislation called the Safer Supervision Act, which should address the civil liberties of the 120,000 Americans currently federal supervision. “We introduced a bill that created a pathway to people earning their way off of supervision,” said the CEO Jessica Jackson. “It’s been about four years of working on that bill.”

Jackson continued outlining that effort of changing the whole framework so community supervision is not a shadow extension of a prison sentence. In other words, clarity on what constitutes violations that may or may not be violations, and what the appropriate of risk means with respect to respected engaged fairness.

For Meek, it is personally motivating but is also much larger than personal at this point. “I made music and successfully made it out of the ghetto,” he stated. “But this is something to the legacy that adds a dream that never came about that you couldn’t really ever think of.”