Watch the Cast and Creators of WGN’s Underground Call on Congress to Tackle #JusticeReformNow

Because it’s past time to address mass incarceration.

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The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, ACLU National, and cut50 released new PSAs featuring the cast and creators of the WGN show Underground calling on Congress to tackle mass incarceration by ending the racially discriminatory War on Drugs. Participating cast and creators include Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Amirah Vann, Alano Miller, Aldis Hodge, Misha Green, and Joe Pokaski.

Last year, 100+ celebrities and dozens of civil rights, criminal justice, and faith organizations joined the campaign for #JusticeReformNOW, urging Congress to pass historic, bipartisan federal legislation that would begin to fix the U.S. criminal justice system.

Over the past 40 years, the War on Drugs has devastated entire communities through the systematic over-sentencing of low-level offenses and criminalization of individuals suffering from drug addiction mostly targeting urban communities. This is especially evident in the federal criminal justice system, where nearly 50 percent of people in federal prison are there for drug-related offenses.

A poll commissioned by Pew Charitable Trusts last year shows that Americans across party lines and demographics overwhelmingly agree: the prison population should be dramatically reduced, there should be reforms to mandatory minimum sentencing, and our criminal justice system needs to provide greater opportunities for rehabilitation and treatment.

#cut50, The Leadership Conference, and the ACLU are encouraging supporters to add their voice to the campaign by calling their members of Congress (toll-free at 1–888–623–4558) and tweeting using #JusticeReformNOW to highlight why they support criminal justice reform.

Watch all of the PSAs here.

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