Joe Rhodes

Former three-term Pennsylvania State Representative Joe Rhodes Jr. died recently at the age of 66. Rhodes was a fervent proponent of prison reform, sponsoring legislation that successfully amended the Juvenile Justice Act, making it unlawful to hold minors in adult jails. He was also the driving force behind legislative visits to prisons, which allowed lawmakers to better understand the treatment and rehabilitation of prisoners. The dedicated representative drove the passage of nine bills throughout his political career, was a 1969 graduate of the California Institute of Technology and also participated in a three-year intellectual history program at Harvard.