The saga of Meek Mill’s latest sentencing continues, as he and his legal team were denied by courts for the second time this week on appeal. The Pennsylvania court that denied his legal team’s request he be released on bail earlier this week called him “a danger to his community” which feels like a racially-charged statement, to say the least. The denial by this second court of appeals is also upsetting. And, actually, Meek’s community feels the same way — they recently threw a rally demanding he be freed.
The reason Meek is currently in prison is for violating nearly decade-old probation terms that stem from a gun and drug possession case. Meanwhile, the character of the judge involved in lording over Meek’s probation has called into question a number of times since she made the decision last month to throw him back in prison for two to four years. It appears her obsession with her celebrity client has severely clouded her judgment, and Meek’s lawyers have continually lobbied for a new judge to be assigned.
But, the flaws of our justice system aren’t contained to just one judge, as these two appeal rulings show. Before this, Meek had been thrown in solitary confinement due to his status as a popular rapper. Thankfully, he has now been removed from that hellish predicament. Now, it’s time for the Pennsylvania legal system to reverse this abuse of power, as activists like Jay-Z and Colin Kaepernick have all called on them to do.
