October 22 Newsletter

Newsletter OCTOBER 2022

September Recap

October Calendar

Our first community meeting since 2020!

Sept. 15-Oct. 15 Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month

In last month's newsletter, we announced that two new incredible people have joined the team alongside Mark Clements: Kennedy Bartley, Director of Campaigns, and Rebecca Wilson Bretz, Community Organizer. Thanks to this solid, brilliant, and skilled team, on September 24 we were able to hold CTJC's first Community Meeting (formerly called RISE meetings) since 2020.

Those in attendance participated in a brainstorming session, where they came up with plans to work on creating a Political Education and Organizing Working Group of people in prison and our community outside. They also discussed creating a Court Support Working Group, as well as explore campaigns around the murder registry and a new reparations ordinance.

Stay tuned in the coming months for updates from our organizing team on how you can get involved!

The next Community Meeting will be at the Center on October 29th from 2-4pm to discuss all of this upcoming organizing and campaign work. That meeting will be directly followed by a Community Fair with partner organizations at the Center from 4-6pm!

October 3 International Wrongful Conviction Day October 10 -World Day Against the Death Penalty -World Mental Health Day October 12 RonnieMan's 8th Angel Day October 20 Laquan McDonald's 8th Angel Day October 29 -Community Meeting 2-4pm -Community Fair 4-6pm (both events at the Center offices)

September Reentry Dinner

In July, the Peer Reentry team organized our first ever Reentry Dinner. On September 29, survivors and our formerly incarcerated community gathered again for a second dinner. Thank you to everyone who came out -- it's always wonderful to see the space filled with smiling faces, both familiar and new to the CTJC community. We're excited about the addition of Demond McIntosh to the Peer Reentry team, and for more reentry dinners to come!

6337 S. WOODLAWN AVENUE CHICAGO IL 60637 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG

Illinois’ plan to end cash bail is not a ‘purge law.’

It will, however, stop the criminalization of poverty Written by New York public defender and political commentator Olayemi Olurin Misinformation about the Pretrial Fairness Act, a provision under the SAFE-T Act, has run rampant statewide.

Contrary to widely circulated claims, there is no "Purge law". The Pretrial Fairness Act abolishes cash bail so that people will no longer have to languish behind bars simply because they can't afford to post bail. This article was originally published in The Grio on September 19, 2022.

There is no such thing as a “purge law.”

Illinois’ Pretrial Fairness Act is being wrongly compared to The Purge—the movie franchise where all crimes, including murder, are allowed for a 12-hour period. But what the law actually does is end the cash bail system in the state to ensure that people are not being incarcerated simply because they’re poor.

Most people caught up in the criminal legal system live below the poverty line. The cash bail system, which was never about public safety and was designed to make sure people show up for trial, instead criminalizes poverty and aids mass incarceration—which is why it’s become a recent target of prison reform. Prosecutors and judges use pretrial incarceration as leverage to coerce people into taking plea deals in cases where prosecutors likely can’t present compelling evidence at trial to get a conviction. The effects of pretrial detention are longlasting and life-altering.

Chicago’s Cook County Jail is one of those pretrial detention centers where 6,000 people are incarcerated pre-trial—and it’s one of the worst. At least 60 people have died in Cook County Jail since 2017.

I am a public defender who represents people at Rikers Island, the infamous pretrial detention center in New York City where 16 people died last year and 14 have already died this year—and even I was floored to learn that the crisis happening at Cook County Jail may be worse.

The Pretrial Fairness Act is a modest reform—so modest in fact, former Republican Governor Chris Christie supported and signed a similar bill in New Jersey in 2014.

The law does not mean that people are exempt from going to jail pretrial, as critics claim. People can and will still be detained. Under the new law, instead of the existing cash bail system—where anyone with money can be released regardless of whether they pose a danger to public safety while poor people languish behind bars for nonviolent offenses—the new system would actually acknowledge both the presumption of innocence and public safety, two factors that cash bail never considers.

We’re supposed to live in a civil society based on the presumption of innocence. People who are legally innocent should not die in custody awaiting their trial. But it is happening every day.

Under the new law, people charged with a crime can be detained if a prosecutor presents evidence to a judge that a person is 1) a threat to public safety, 2) a flight risk from prosecution, 3) violated any terms of their release or 4) were simply accused of mostly felony crimes—despite the numerous infographics floating around erroneously claiming that judges and prosecutors will be unable to detain people accused of murder and other violent crimes.

What the law does is establish a higher standard for detainment. cont'd on next page

6337 S. WOODLAWN AVENUE CHICAGO IL 60637 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG

OCTOBER 2022 NEWSLETTER

Illinois’ plan to end cash bail is not a ‘purge law.’ It will, however, stop the criminalization of poverty cont'd

We are endlessly confronted with the human rights abuses raging throughout America’s prison industrial complex. Yet, when we assert that these abuses persist because the criminal system is working as designed to maintain racial and social inequity, we are told to preserve our faith in the system and to instead accept modest reform instead of wholesale change. But when reform comes, we see massive, fearmongering campaigns designed to erode public support for commonsense policies.

The role that the media plays in quashing reform efforts cannot be overstated. It’s no coincidence that we are seeing misleading stories on large platforms with Black audiences like the Shade Room and Baller Alert. This is a concerted effort by right-wing Republicans and neoliberals who want to lend legitimacy to their racist initiatives by getting Black people to internalize propaganda so we oppose policies designed to protect and keep us out of jail.

Another deliberately engineered lie is that the Pretrial Fairness Act will prevent police from making arrests. Police in Illinois can arrest anyone at any time and that won’t change with the Pretrial Fairness Act. The new law encourages police to write tickets for lowerlevel offenses instead of unnecessarily arresting and detaining people. People charged with misdemeanors and nonviolent crimes will be able to fight their cases while free instead of waiting in jail because they don’t have money for bail.

Further, while Chicago police are engaging in “copaganda” by insisting this law is preventing them from making arrests, it’s important to remember the law will not go into effect until Jan. 1. This is an organized campaign to prevent necessary reform.

We’re supposed to live in a civil society based on the presumption of innocence. People who are legally innocent should not die in custody awaiting their trial.

But it is happening every day.

The Pretrial Fairness Act will change that, despite the disingenuous stories you are seeing aimed at undermining support for reform. There is no “purge law.” There is only a change that affords people more rights and ensures their freedom is not tied to how much money they have. It’s a change that will prevent, not create, harm.

Learn more Website pretrialfairness.org

Sign the petition https://bit.ly/ implementPFA

SB2119 seeks to amend the Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission Overview The Illinois Torture Inquiry and Relief Commission ("TIRC") was created to review claims of torture in Illinois and to make findings about whether those claims are credible.

The TIRC Act currently excludes many cases of torture based on location, timing, and the lack of an appropriate definition of torture.

The Amendments 1) Defining Torture This amendment explicitly defines torture by adopting the definition of the United Nations Convention Against Torture ("CAT"). This definition is already incorporated into federal law because the US signed the CAT and ratified it.

2) Expanding the Geographical Scope This amendment expands the geographical scope of claims of torture.

Currently, the TIRC Act only applies to torture that occurred within a county of more than three million inhabitants, i.e. Cook County. The amendment would remove that restriction and would therefore apply the TIRC Act to the entire state; torture is wrong wherever it happens.

3) Removing the Time Restriction This amendment removes the restriction that persons must have filed their claims of torture within 10 years from the establishment of the TIRC, which was in 2009.

6337 S. WOODLAWN AVENUE CHICAGO IL 60637 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG

cont'd on next page

OCTOBER 2022 NEWSLETTER

TIRC cont'd

A claim of torture should not be time-barred, especially because most people with claims of torture are incarcerated.

4) Adopting a Two-Year Timeline This amendment explicitly mandates that the TIRC make it its goal to complete credibility reviews with two years of receiving a claim of torture. It also requires the TIRC to submit budget proposals reflecting the resources needed to complete all credibility reviews within two years of receiving a claim.

Your Contributions We're always moved by the brilliance and talent that comes from our community. This poem was written and sent to us

by Jamal S. It's a powerful piece that holds so much truth and pain, and names what is so often invisible and unspoken.

SB 2119 was proposed by the Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression and the Chicago Torture Justice Center. It is sponsored by Senators Robert Peters, Jacqueline Y. Collins, Patricia Van Pelt, Mattie Hunter and Mike Simmons. For more information please contact Corinne Hastings (corinne.e.hastings@gmail.com). These groups and individuals are working to pass this legislation this year, and we will continue to update you on this process.

Can you help us with our Love-a-thon gallery?

Our annual Love-a-thon is our end-of-year fundraiser, and it’s right around the corner! Last year, we raised over $70,000 to go toward the cost of renovating and moving into our new building.

The CTJC team has been working in and using the new space in Woodlawn since May, and it is truly starting to feel like the Center we envisioned. We still have dreams of building out a computer lab, pantry, community closet, and laundry room for survivors and those navigating reentry.

This year, our goal is to raise $50,000 so that we can start working toward those dreams in the next year. The Love-a-thon is also for all of you. Although we can’t physically be together, we want you to know that you are always at the forefront of our minds and our work.

We want to invite you to participate in the Love-athon by contributing to our Love-a-thon gallery! Do you have any words, poems, or artwork to share with our community and supporters? We want them to be able to see the strong and brilliant community that we have inside.

Write to us: Chicago Torture Justice Center attn: Gilary Valenzuela 6337 S. Woodlawn Avenue Chicago, IL 60637

6337 S. WOODLAWN AVENUE CHICAGO IL 60637 CHICAGOTORTUREJUSTICE.ORG