JAY-Z has never really been shy about his political concerns, primarily when it comes to social justice, and he’s recently started working more actively in that field with projects like his Trayvon Martin documentary series Rest In Power and his Kalief Browder documentary Time. Now, as reported by Consequence Of Sound, JAY-Z is teaming up with Meek Mill to help launch an organization dedicated to criminal justice reform called—appropriately enough—REFORM.
Alongside JAY-Z and Meek Mill will be former Obama advisor Van Jones (who will be REFORM’s CEO), Philadelphia 76ers co-owner Michael Rubin, New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, and Brooklyn Nets co-owner Clara Wu Tsai. You may notice a common thread with those names, specifically the safe assumption that they’re all very rich, and Consequence Of Sound says they’ve committed to putting in $50 million to help launch REFORM. The plan is to use REFORM to help “drastically reduce the number of people who are under control of the criminal justice system while keeping communities safe by changing laws and public opinion.”
Meek Mill’s involvement is particularly noteworthy, since he was involved in a bizarre situation a few years ago where he was sentenced to two to four years in prison for a parole violation stemming from a minor charge a decade ago. There were allegations that the judge on his case had specifically set out to excessively punish him, to the point where the FBI got involved.