Dear Friends, The 102nd General Assembly swore in new legislators on January 13, 2021 and began meeting that month. As of mid-June, legislators concluded business for this year’s regular session. During the session, members of the General Assembly introduced 7,004 bills. Of those bills, 664 passed through...
Soon, the law may prevent someone in Jason Foster’s position from being charged with murder. But Jason and those already serving extreme prison sentences won’t benefit. In January 2021, Illinois lawmakers passed extensive, multi-faceted legislation to address some of the most devastating, racially unjust practices that...
A note from Restore Justice Program Manager Wendell Robinson: When I came home in December 2018, I knew I wanted to be part of Restore Justice. I served 25 years in prison for something that happened when I was 17 years old. During my incarceration,...
Formerly Incarcerated Men Share Why They’re Getting Vaccinated Fred Weatherspon received his second and final dose of the COVID-19 in January. “I want to protect myself,” Fred said. “I knew, if given the opportunity, I would take it.” Fred didn’t experience the side effects some people do....
Dear Friends, It has been 10 months and counting since the onset of COVID-19 and statewide quarantine policies. Please know we think about you all the time, we care about the conditions inside prisons, and we are working as hard as we can to address some...
Incarcerated people are dying because some facilities within the Illinois Department of Corrections seem to be denying testing or treatment for COVID-19. While we welcome Illinois’s recent announcement that people who are incarcerated in three facilities will be regularly tested, we’re disturbed it took so many...
This Thanksgiving will look different than years past. The raging COVID-19 pandemic keeps us from welcoming family and friends into our homes. Spiking case numbers around the country mean we can’t see farther flung friends and family, to wrap ourselves in the comfort of traditions. I...
Restore Justice applauds Governor JB Pritzker for his focus on fixing the criminal legal system in Illinois. We welcome the Governor’s proposed principles for building an equitable system and the administration’s acknowledgement of the racism inherent in policing, charging, sentencing, and in prison. These principles...
Most regions in Illinois are in Phase 4 of the Restore Illinois plan. Bars, restaurants, gyms, and salons are open throughout the state, but thousands of incarcerated people still have no indication of when they might see their families or meet with their lawyers, or...
KNOW MORE: ILLINOIS’S “LAW OF ACCOUNTABILITY” Restore Justice published a new "Know More" piece. The report focuses on Illinois's "law of accountability." In Illinois, it is legal for a person to be arrested, charged, and convicted of a crime they not only did not commit but also...
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