Incarceration Reform

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The United States has far more people in prison and in jail than public safety requires. This damages the lives of those who are incarcerated, their families, and their communities, disproportionately the lives and families and communities of people of color. It also contributes to a cycle of crime and punishment and diverts resources from more constructive uses.

This purpose of this website is to provide information that individuals and organizations need in order to get involved in confronting the moral crisis of mass incarceration in Illinois and elsewhere, by accumulating and organizing the growing body of information about the full range of complex issues that we need to address in order to rethink and change the laws and practices that have resulted in too many men and women—most of them people of color—being imprisoned, and about the many ongoing efforts that one can support for making our response to criminal behavior both fairer and more  effective.

That growing body of information is accessible through the links accumulated both in the summary document on opportunities and resources, which you will find under in the section entitled “Getting Involved” and in the documents that break down that same information by subject matter in the other sections of the website listed above.

Those resources also include video recordings available on this homepage of programs featuring leading experts that were hosted by St. Chrysostom’s Episcopal Church in Chicago in 2018 to promote greater understanding of the criminal legal system and to begin to provide tools for individuals and organizations to get involved in promoting radical change.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed on this website are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the CDLU. 

The updated sections of the website now include links to a wealth of new Books, Reports and Articles and other Online Resources from 2023, in addition to a call for urgent advocacy with the Chicago City Council and a partial catalogue of justice reform legislation enacted in Illinoi in 2023 with the help of citizens who filed witness slips in advance of House and Senate committee hearings. In addition to being included in the various sections of the website, references to new resources are shown in bold at the tab Getting Involved.

There is also an updated list of Organizations to Support and Follow as 2023 comes to an end.

Resources of particular interest for getting involved in justice reform include the tools highlighted at the tab on Advocacy in Illinois and the following resources:

• A Reality Check on Illinois Prisons, recording of the November 27, 2023 edition of The 21^st Show, from Illinois Public Media, featuring Jennie Volen-Katz, David Olson, Harold Hirshman and Alan Mills
  https://will.illinois.edu/21stshow/story/a-reality-check-on-illinois-prisons

• the Final Report of the bipartisan Illinois Resentencing Task Force, issued in January 2023
  https://drive.google.com/file/d/1H3P5obfMWHbO8_0szbS91K3U04evAajQ/view

Executive Summary: https://spac.icjia-api.cloud/uploads/RESENTENCING%20TASK%20FORCE%20FINAL%20REPORT_Exec%20Summary-20230124T16172377.pdf

• the Illinois Reentry Council Strategic Plan, issued in December 2022:
  https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59653faf099c014ab2324724/t/6397cc998fd6494b9bc00376/1670892697983/Illinois+Reentry+Council+Strategic+Plan.pdf

• a  new WTTW Firsthand series for 2023 on “Life After Prison”, which launched on February 13, 2023: https://video.wttw.com/video/firsthand-life-after-prison-trailer-33aofv
  https://chicagodefender.com/firsthand-life-after-prison-launches-monday-february-13-2023/

• Not and Alternative – The Myths, Harms and Expansion of Pretrial Electronic Monitoring, an October 2023 report of the Prison Policy Initiative
  https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2023/10/30/electronic_monitoring

• several resource guides and hubs for returning citizens, including:
  https://www.intelligent.com/education-and-career-guide-after-incarceration
  https://www.justice.gov/archive/fbci/progmenu_reentry.html

As always, please take a look and consider both how you can get involved and whom else you know who might be interested in the website.

This month I have updated the attachment to highlight a number of new action items and resources, which you can find at the tab Getting Involved, including:

• links to some actions that you can take now to support some of the justice reform legislative that is being introduced in the new sessions of the Illinois General Assembly,

• the Final Report of the bipartisan Illinois Resentencing Task Force, issued in January: Click here to view.

View the Executive Summary

• the lllinois Reentry Council Strategic Plan, issued in December: Click here to view.   

• a  new WTTW Firsthand series for 2023 on “Life After Prison”, which launches on February 13:
  https://video.wttw.com/video/firsthand-life-after-prison-trailer-33aofv
  https://chicagodefender.com/firsthand-life-after-prison-launches-monday-february-13-2023/

• several resource guides and hubs for returning citizens, including:

https://www.intelligent.com/education-and-career-guide-after-incarceration/ 

https://reentryillinois.web.illinois.edu/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Mapping-Your-Future-2022-Interactive.pdf

https://www.justice.gov/archive/fbci/progmenu_reentry.html

• and a new bundle of resources, templates and opportunities to connect, which you can use to get involved in helping to address the mental health issues and trauma that arise from incarceration: Click here to view.

Please take a look and consider both how you can get involved and whom else you know who might be interested in the website.

As always, please feel free to let others who may be interested know of these resources.

There is every indication that 2023 will be a banner year for progress in the work for justice reform.

In addition to archives of the full range of resources for getting involved in that work, the website now includes new links under Upcoming Events for joining some in-person and online events coming up later in January and links under Getting Involved and under Books, Reports and Articles to several important new reports and other resources, including:

• The new Strategic Plan of the Illinois Reentry Council: Click here to view.

• Reports from The National Academy of Sciences on “Reducing Racial Inequality in Crime and Justice” and from the Sentencing Project on the “Diversion: a Hidden Key To Combatting Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Juvenile Justice:   

https://nap.nationalacademies.org/read/26705/chapter/1, and

https://www.sentencingproject.org/reports/diversion-a-hidden-key-to-combating-racial-and-ethnic-disparities-in-juvenile-justice/ and

• Resources for the coming expansion of opportunities for higher education in prisons, as Pell Grants once again become available to finance such programs:

www.intelligent.com/education-and-career-guide-after-incarceration/ and

www.icjia.illinois.gov/about/publications/illinois-higher-education-in-prison-task-force-2022-report and

John Oliver – Finally, to get a burst of energy for the fight to end cash bail (while we in Illinois wait for the Illinois Supreme Court to uphold the SAFE-T Act) be sure to have a listen below to John Oliver’s energetic advocacy in for bail reform in this “Last Week Tonight” program from last fall.  

As always, please feel free to let others who may be interested know of these resources.

The fall season of justice, and injustice, is in full swing. 

Defending the Pretrial Fairness Act

Please give your priority attention to the resources that you will find at the tab Getting Involved for 

• informing yourself about the Pretrial Fairness Act, which eliminate cash bail in Illinois on January 1, and
• taking action to defend the Act against attempts to repeal it or gut it. 

Take a moment to use the convenient link to contact your legislators, asking them to join the Coalition to End Money Bond in combatting misinformation about the Act.

Reports and Resources for Returning Citizens

There are links to some important new resources for returning citizens under the Release and Reentry tab, and in the documents at the Books, Reports and Articles tab, you will find links to new reports on electronic monitoring and on the extreme racial disparity in wrongfully convictions in this country.

In the documents at the Upcoming Events tab, you will find details of a number of upcoming events, including:

• Chicago Appleseed’s Collaboration for Justice event on Tuesday October 18:
  https://secure.chicagoappleseed.org/np/clients/caffj/eventRegistration.jsp?event=130,
• The annual event of the John Howard Association, on Wednesday October 26: https://www.thejha.org/events/blakinger, and
• The annual Justice Rising Benefit Gala of The Lawndale Christian Legal Center on Thursday November 3: https://lclc.networkforgood.com/events/47352-lclc-s-11th-annual-justice-rising-benefit-gala-the-power-of-restorative-justice

The revised documents in these and other sections of the website continue to contain links to the wealth of resources that have been accumulating over the past months and years, to provide the basis for each of us to define and pursue our roles in the efforts to reform the criminal legal system.

Please feel free to let others who may be interested know of these resources.

Reports on the state of our criminal legal system, and on initiatives to improve it, continued to proliferate while we were enjoying the summer.  

The revised documents that you will find at the tabs Getting Involved, and Books, Reports and Articles, provide fresh data about how system operates and thoughtful commentary on topics such as diversion from incarceration, repurposing of prisons and recognizing the humanity of those who have been incarcerated.

The revised documents that you will find at  Getting Involved, and Upcoming Events contain links to information about some of the opportunities that we have this fall to celebrate with those whose efforts are transforming the conversation about justice reform in Illinois and who are serving the needs of those who are impacted by the system.:

• Reading Between the Lines, on September 8:     https://www.readingbetweenthelines.org/donate
• The Illinois Prison Project, on September 22: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/illinois-prison-project-gala-tickets-391117943297
• Restore Justice, on October https://secure.givelively.org/event/restore-justice-foundation/impacted-excellence, and
• The John Howard Association, on October 26: https://www.thejha.org/events/blakinger.

As always, the revised documents in these and other sections of the website continue to contain links to the wealth of resources that have been accumulating over the past months and years, to provide the basis for each of us to define and pursue our roles in the efforts to reform the criminal legal system.

Please feel free to let others who may be interested know of these resources.

Thank you for all that you do.

The spring session of the Illinois General Assembly created a busy time for citizens and advocates in defending last year’s justice reforms, including the Pretrial Justice Act, and opposing additional ineffective punitive measures for those accused of a crime and those who have served their time.  There is a summary of the results of those efforts on this website under the subheading Advocacy In Illinois and at the tab Getting Involved.  

The revised documents that you will find at the tabs Upcoming Online Events, Books, Reports and Articles and Getting Involved also highlight new online resources and reports:

• discussing the disfunction and injustice in Illinois prisons and what is needed to reform them,
• providing digital exhibitions and an activation kit for Envisioning Justice,
• focusing on the scope of juvenile incarceration and the impact of our increasing incarceration of women who are mothers, and
• highlighting the development of advocacy and resources to improve the lives of those who have served their time.

The purpose of this post is to highlight links to a number of upcoming online programs in which we can participate as we gear up to tackle Justice Reform in 2022, which appear in the revised documents at the tab Upcoming Online Events and at the tab Getting Involved.  The revised documents at the tab Books, Reports and Articles and at the tab Sources of Support for Returning Citizens contain links to new reports related to promoting just outcomes for young offenders and to information about additional organizations devoted to improving the lives of those who have been released from prison.

The new year brings important new initiatives in

• reducing the barriers and increasing the support for people returning from prison,
• supporting the full implementation of last year’s landmark justice reform legislation in Illinois, including the Pretrial Fairness Act,
• continuing to transform our system of juvenile justice,
• expanding the use of restorative justice practices, and
• and challenging racial disparities at every level of our criminal legal system.

Please link to information about some of them in the revised documents that you will find in the sections of the website on Getting Involved, Sources of Information, Volunteer opportunities and Upcoming Online Events. 

Once again we approach the end of the year with many reasons to appreciate the dedication of individuals and organizations whose efforts continue to shine a light on the failures of our criminal legal system, to develop and implement changes that will bring justice and overcome racial bias, and to serve those harmed by the cycle of trauma and violence caused by the punitive approach that we take to criminal justice.

Here is a list of organizations that are making important contributions to those efforts and that are worthy of our year-end financial support, including links that you can use to learn more about their work and to make a donation.

[And by clicking here you can make a tax deductible contribution to CDLU.org – www.cdlu.org, the nonprofit organization that created this website.]

We are also called to take some time over the holidays to continue to consider how we can address the racial disparities in our criminal legal system.  We can get some help in maintaining that focus:

• by watching the program on Challenging Racial Disparities to End Mass Incarceration being presented by The Sentencing Project on Wednesday December 1 at 1:00 CST (register to participate at: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_630m4oj-Rkezbtdf94xd9A?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=3c564d07-adac-4d79-9d05-6ece3e01307a)
• by watching the new Brave New Films documentary Racially Charged: America’s Misdemeanor Problem, accessible at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bm2PxE0HMr4&t=4s, and
• by checking out the report released last month by the Sentencing Project on The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Diversity in State Prisons, clicking on: The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State Prisons.

Please also use the links in the revised document under the tab Getting Involved, and in the revised documents listing reports and online resources under the tab Sources of Information and Ideas:

• to participate in some of the online events being presented between now and December 7,
• to join the new Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice,
• to watch some of the programs mentioned there that are now available online, and
• to consult some of the important new reports on conditions in our prisons, on reforming the reentry experience, on the status of justice reform in Illinois, and on addressing mass incarceration through social investments.

I hope that you and your families will also find time to enjoy the holidays and that you will find new sources of inspiration and energy as we emerge from some of the limitations and distractions of the past two years.