Twitter co-founder and CEO Jack Dorsey has donated $10 million to Meek Mill, JAY-Z, and Michael Rubin's prison reform non-profit. Reform Alliance will receive the funds as part of Dorsey's #StartSmall initative, and will be used to help with coronavirus pandemic relief efforts in prisons across the United States. It will also help provide PPE to prisoners and prison staff.
Dorsey, who said that he's grateful for the work Reform does, has recently donated large sums of money to help with COVID relief. "The criminal justice system needs to change," he added. "COVID-19 adds to the injustices, and Reform is best suited to help."
Reform CEO Van Jones said that "this level of support from a tech titan marks a turning point for the criminal justice reform movement."
Reform will use the money to purchase over 10 million masks, distributing the equipment to prisons in 50 different states. A large number of coronavirus hot spots in the country are inside prisons, with the Marion Correctional Institution in Ohio hit particuarly hard at 2,197 cases amongst inmates.
Dorsey first announced the #StartSmall initiative last month, pledging $1 billion of his Square equity to help contribute to relief efforts. Dorsey said that once the pandemic is over, he will use the venture to support other causes including girls' health and education, and universal basic income.
