ALC is 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, public interest law firm and community organizing project. With bases in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, we work mainly in Pennsylvania, the birthplace of solitary confinement.

We engage in class action and impact litigation, grassroots advocacy, research and public education, legislative lobbying, pressure campaigns, media outreach, and other strategic communications.

We use these tools to build a mass movement to dismantle the racist, classist criminal legal system, and protect the rights and wellbeing of people who encounter police, the courts, jails and prisons, and other forms of legal supervision.

Across our many lanes of work, our priorities include:

• freeing people from incarceration and advocating for their wellbeing while they’re behind bars
• suing institutions like jails, prisons, and police departments, and redistributing their resources, via legal settlements, to people impacted by the criminal
  punishment system and
• building power among, taking our leadership from, and being accountable to people who are directly impacted by capitalism, state violence, and mass
  incarceration

Our work results in fewer and less discriminatory arrests and less police violence; fewer people becoming incarcerated; shorter stays for those who do get locked up; and safer and more humane conditions for people while they’re inside.

Read our 2024 Impact Report here