Newsletter JULY 2022
Photos from the Community Connection Fair.
Our first summer in our new home has been busy! Here's some of what we've been up to. Community Connection Fair On Saturday, June 25th, we held a Community Connection Fair at the Center to get to know our Woodlawn neighbors and to connect them with our wonderful community partners. We were hoping to have this event outdoors, but it ended up being a rainy day. We continued indoors instead! We're grateful to our community partners JustIce Cream, Chicago Bond Fund, CAARPR, MAMAS, Invisible Institute, and the Greater Chicago Legal Clinic for coming out for the event. Special shoutout to DJ Shawn Whirl for providing the good vibes as we sheltered from the rain!
Participating Community Partners: JustIce Cream: http://justicecream.org/ Chicago Bond Fund: https://chicagobond.org/ CAARPR: https://www.caarpr.org/ MAMAS: https://www.motheringisradical.com/ Invisible Institute: https://invisible.institute/ Greater Chicago Legal Clinic: https://www.gclclaw.org/
Panels and Conferences Members of our staff and board were invited to speak at events around the city this month. On July 7th, La Tanya Jenifor-Sublett, Mark Clements, Gregory Banks and Anthony Holmes spoke on a panel at the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice conference. On July 14th, Aislinn Pulley, La Tanya Jenifor-Sublett and Anthony Holmes were featured speakers at the Remaking the Exceptional publication launch. Remaking the Exceptional is an art exhibit featured at the DePaul Art Museum through August 7th. According to the exhibit web page, Remaking the Exceptional "highlights connections between policing and incarceration in Chicago and the human rights violations of the "Global War on Terror." It celebrates and features artworks by torture survivors, activists, artists, and collectives with long-term commitments to creating visions of justice and reparations."
National Association of Community and Restorative Justice: ttps://nacrj.org/ Remaking the Exceptional: https://resources.depaul.edu/artmuseum/exhibitions/remaking-the-exceptional/
6337 S. WOODLAWN AVENUE CHICAGO IL 60637 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG
What's New at CTJC? Our new phone number + office hours It’s now been 2 months since we opened up the new space! We’re continuing to settle in and make adjustments as we go. We announced our new hours last month, and we also have a new number:
New Phone Number: (773) 966-6666 Hours of Operation: Mondays & Wednesdays, 10am-6pm The front of the Chicago Torture Justice Center office.
Creating a Healing Garden A few weeks ago, we made a social media announcement that we'd love to start a garden outside our new space. We received an overwhelming response from our community-so many reached out to offer donations of plants, soil, mulch, time, energy and expertise! We’re thankful to our community partners from the New Era Young Lords and Renaldo Hudson of IL Prison Project who noticed the unused space and came up with the idea to create a healing garden.
A social media post calling for material s and voluntee rs for a garden.
Throughout the month of July, volunteers are showing up every Saturday to help pull weeds, landscape, and begin planting. We’re excited to be getting this started and we’ll keep you updated as we continue working on this project.
A group of volunteers that helped clear the space for planting.
A pile of weeds pulled from the garden plot.
6337 S. WOODLAWN AVENUE CHICAGO IL 60637 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG
JUNE 2022 NEWSLETTER
Legal Primer This information is not meant to substitute for any legal advice, we are not attorneys. The information contained in this publication is for informational purposes only. There has been a lot of information concerning the cases surrounding the use of a conviction used to charge a person as an Armed Habitual Criminal. The most recent cases decided out of the 1st circuit last year, Gray No. 1-19-1086, Miles 180736, Williams 190414. These cases extend the rulings which help those who were unconstitutionally charged and sentenced as juveniles and those cases used as aggravation in cases that cause defendants to face greater charges and punishment. The language that matters in those cases is that charges that are now considered to be offenses that are adjudicated as juvenile offenses cannot be used as a conviction that enhances a charge. Unfortunately not all courts have agreed when faced with this question, (People V. Reed, 2020 IL App (4th) 180533, pet for leave to appeal pending, No. 126750 (filed Dec, 15, 2020) the 4th circuit has ruled the opposite of the 1st circuit. The issue is before our Supreme Court. This ruling in the 1st District has wide reaching implications, but as with all court rulings it is important to review it with skepticism because justice is not blind until you are in its clutches. Research is key, because once you have identified if this issue fits your convictions, now depending on where you are in your filings, (i.e. Post Conviction, Habeas corpus, or Relief from Judgment) this issue is ripe for a challenge.
The importance of this ruling lies in the fact that it opens up ways to challenge the use of extended term and habitual criminal sentencing for those who have those juvenile convictions that were used in aggravation as a way to charge and/or sentence people over and above those crimes and sentences that they originally faced. In closing, be vigilant and do your research. Again, this is just for informational purposes to start a conversation about the Court rulings that will benefit even if those rulings are not the favorable ones, a discussion is still good to be had to figure out ways that could possibly turn the next decision in our favor. Our power lies in our ability to listen and reason, Criminal Justice will require that. In Solidarity, Curtis (Delayahu) Ferdinand
Answers to the Juneteenth crossword:
There is an added obstacle that you have to deal with and that is the COVID 19 effect on prison Law Libraries and Courts. On one hand the lack of access to the materials and time in the Law Library puts those research attempts at a standstill, then there's the research itself which is slowed because of the newness of the argument itself right now.
6337 S. WOODLAWN AVENUE CHICAGO IL 60637 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG
JUNE 2022 NEWSLETTER
Commemorating Black August We honor Black August, a time for commemoration that originated in California prisons during the 1970s. This month, we honor the lives and struggle of Black political prisoners and freedom fighters with political education and connection with one another. We'd like to share this poem, written by one of our community members, Dennis. It's a powerful and relevant poem, and we hope it resonates with you as much as it resonated with us. Do you have any reflections about Black August? Write to us, and we may include it in future newsletters.
6337 S. WOODLAWN AVENUE CHICAGO IL 60637 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG
JUNE 2022 NEWSLETTER
Your Contributions In May, we asked you what your dreams were for the CTJ community in the next 5 years. We've included some of your responses here. Thank you so much to all of you that write to us. We love hearing from you! Our incarcerated community is at the heart of our work, and we value what you have to share with us.
I would like to see the CTJC work to expand the public's understanding of torture to include abused & incarcerated people doing long sentences.
I hope that the CTJ in the next 5 years address and display more wrongful convicted brothers & sister as well as torture victims who are still incarcerated in the newsletter and website to bring awareness to their cases
What's been inspiring you lately? We'd love to hear from you. Book Requests? We're thinking about ways to connect with our community inside at the end of the year. We'd love to send you the gift of a book of your choosing. Would you be interested in receiving a book? If so, send us your request! Name: Book or Type of Book: Any other feedback for us: