John Legend spoke to the U.K.’s The Guardian about mass incarceration and his campaign to elect progressive prosecutors who will work on prison reform.
Legend himself has backed several chief prosecutors and candidates who want to fix America’s racially biased criminal justice system.
Legend’s own mom did stints in jail while struggling with addiction, and he has endorsed candidates in Tennessee, North Carolina, Oregon and California who are working on prison reform.
“Every person you lock up has a bunch of family members that feel the effects of that,” he tells the publication. “When you separate a child from their parent, you’re extending this cycle of violence and trauma to that child, creating more potential for them to get in trouble in the future.”
America continues to be the most incarcerated country in the world. “I really became convinced that prosecutors are a key lever because they have a lot of power in their communities,” the singer added.
Prosecutors make so many decisions that affect the incarceration rate.
The pandemic caused more housing insecurity, food insecurity, poverty and unemployment. “Crime went up and that’s real, and all of us need to care and find ways to solve these issues,” Legend says. “But we’re not going to solve it by mass incarcerating our way to safety. If incarceration was the key to us being safer, we’d be the safest country in the world.”
He stressed that the costs of incarceration are not just monetary, but disrupt our communities and families.
“Jails aren’t the solution to mental health issues, homelessness or drug addiction,” he says.
Prosecutors in place who believe that will actually help people heal and get better.
Legend says there is a lot of vitriol thrown his way but thinks what he’s proposing about how to reform our system is not that radical.
