Share
24th April 2018
11:27pm BST
"We are thrilled that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has directed Judge Brinkley to immediately issue an order releasing Meek on bail. As we have said all along, Meek was unjustly convicted and should not have spent a single day in jail. We are also pleased that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court has noted that Judge Brinkley may opt to remove herself from presiding over any further proceedings in Meek's case in the interests of justice. Meek is excited to be reunited with his family, and we, along with Meek, intend to continue to shine the light on a justice system in need of reform to prevent any other citizen from being put through what Meek has endured."Much controversy has surrounded Meek's case dating back to when he was sentenced in November to two to four years in prison for violating probation on a nearly decade-old gun and drug case. Judge Genece Brinkley, who sentenced him for the probation violation, said he had wasted several chances to clean up his act after a 2009 gun and drug case. The sentence came even against the recommendation of the prosecutor, who said the rapper had matured since his original crime. Brinkley said the prosecutor did not know the case as well as she did and that Mill just "does what he wants." Demonstrators took to the streets at the time in protest. It was said that Judge Brinkley had a personal vendetta against Meek from the start which reportedly had something to do with her requesting he re-record a Boyz II Men song and shout her out. She also apparently wanted him to leave Roc Nation to sign with a friend of hers. Meek Mill was arrested twice - once in St. Louis for an alleged altercation in the airport and another time for alleged reckless driving in New York City involving a dirt bike. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S8gfqs1-NuE JAY-Z wrote a piece for the New York Times back in November and called the Meek's sentence "just one example of how our criminal justice system entraps and harasses hundreds of thousands of black people every day." He wrote that Meek Mill had been "stalked by a system that considers the slightest infraction a justification for locking him back inside" and said that when he was growing up in Brooklyn in the '70s and '80s, he saw probation become a "landmine" for many. He pointed out that a "random misstep" could bring consequences greater than the crime. "A person on probation can end up in jail over a technical violation like missing a curfew," he continued. "As of 2015, one-third of the 4.65 million Americans who were on some form of parole or probation were black. Black people are sent to prison for probation and parole violations at much higher rates than white people." During a concert in Dallas last year JAY-Z stopped the music to acknowledge Meek Mill and say: "He caught a charge when he was, like, 19. He's 30 now, he's been on probation for 11 years. Fucking 11 years. Judge gave him two to four years because he got arrested for being on a bike and popping a fucking wheelie." Welcome home Meek!
Explore more on these topics:
