🔵 By Enoch Jackson. Photo by lauragrafie.
Mass incarceration is now recognized as the civil rights issue of our era, we now understand that over the past 4-5 decades we have over sentenced thousands of people to death by incarceration (LWOP) or other unnecessarily extreme prison sentences. Not only did those sentences fail to reduce crime, but they continue to waste unconscionable sums of taxpayer money that could have been, and could be, better spent on programs and community assistance that actually prevent crime.
Unfortunately, while the general assembly will acknowledge the above facts, legislatures have thus far been unable to do what is needed to correct the issue of over sentencing and overpopulation within the prison system. Parole Illinois (PI) has in the past introduced a bill of earned reentry (SB2333) that would have brought a hope of relief to long-timers within the prison system, but the legislators failed to pass it.
PI is a non-profit organization comprised of people inside and outside prison who are working toward more humane legal and prison systems. In addition to advocating for legislation that would bring back a more fair and true parole system, PI publishes reports, research, articles and campaign materials that promote and enrich public discussion and understanding of the issues surrounding the prison and criminal legal system in Illinois. Recently PI published a 140-page booklet on its corrective Clemency Campaign (CCC) Project. CCC seeks to unite as many people and organizations as possible in pursuit of convincing Illinois’ governor to take action that would remedy the humanitarian crisis of mass incarceration in this state.
This booklet was designed for people in Illinois prisons and their family and friends, and it is contructed (sic) as an educational toolkit for people interested in mobilizing themselves, their peers, their loved ones, and sympathetic organizations toward accomplishing the goals of the CCC project. To review/order the booklet have family and friends, go to this URL address.
CCC seeks to convince the Illinois governor to exercise his executive clemency powers in a much more expansive manner o address the historical harms associated with mass incarceration and thereby bring the state one step closer to being the “beacon of humanity” he said he seeks to turn Illinois into. The PI campaign/project is specifically asking the governor to do two things. First, grant everyone currently serving LWOP or a de facto LWOP sentence (40+years) parole eligibility after serving 15 or 20 years in prison. Second, the CCC project is also seeking the governor to grant everyone serving a number of years subject to the truth-in-sentencing (TIS) provisions a partial pardon on that aspect of their sentence and have the IDOC recalculate all such sentences under the 50% (Day for Day) standard.
The booklet educated one on the governor’s executive clemency powers and the plethora of reasons justifying the above clemency actions for “long-timers”. The booklet suggests activities to do to support the campaign, including how to write GTL messages about CCC. The booklet also contains talking points, sample letters, and a survey. At the current pace of decarceration, it will still take 75 years to cut the total US prison population by half, raising questions about what additional solutions should be pursued to accelerate reform. Thus (1), to tackle the problem of mass incarceration at its core, reforms must target those living in and experiencing the crisis – those that are “locked up” (2). The corrective clemency campaign is a viable solution worth looking into. Please encourage your family, friends, and peers to get involved and reach out to others as much as they can about this parole Illinois project. Thank you.