Author Archives: James Kilgore

FirstFollowers: Using Participatory Action Research to Make Change in Our Community

Posted on 08/28/2023 by James Kilgore

FirstFollowers has a tradition of doing participatory action research at Champaign-Urbana Days, the premier outdoor summer event aimed primarily at the Black community. Participatory Action Research (often called PAR) aims to gather data and information, not just for publication but … Continue reading →

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Countering Violence in Champaign-Urbana

Posted on 02/10/2022 by James Kilgore

The uptick in murders in 2021 represents a national crisis. In 2020, the FBI counted 21,750 homicides in the US, a 30 percent increase over 2019 and the largest percentage increase since 9/11. The total number of murders rose slightly … Continue reading →

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FirstSteps Community House

Posted on 09/20/2019 by James Kilgore

“Our community needs a transitional house … we’re gonna reach out and help people get employment, help them bond back with their families and be able to give back to the community.” — Casandis Hunt, peer mentor at FirstFollowers, talking … Continue reading →

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Reflecting on the Prison Labor Strike: Driving Toward the “Dismantling Process”

Posted on 11/14/2018 by James Kilgore

This year’s Prison Labor Strike was one of the most amazing mobilizations of liberatory politics in the past decade. It was the latest iteration in the most recent generation of prison rebellions, which has included labor strikes in Georgia prisons … Continue reading →

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“You’re Still in Jail”: How Electronic Monitoring Is a Shackle on the Movement for Decarceration

Posted on 12/07/2017 by James Kilgore

(A longer version of this article originally appeared in Truthout.) By James Kilgore Despite the “law and order” vows of Attorney General Jeff Sessions, states and counties continue to take steps to reduce prison and jail populations. In August, Cook … Continue reading →

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Fighting Mass Incarceration Under Trump: New Strategies, New Alliance

Posted on 02/23/2017 by James Kilgore

By James Kilgore Yusef Shakur is a Detroit community organizer who spent several years in Michigan state prisons. “The prison-industrial complex has found the right person to feed it,” he said in response to the election results. “Trump is of … Continue reading →

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Racism and Mass Incarceration in the US Heartland: Historical Roots of the New Jim Crow

Posted on 05/27/2016 by James Kilgore

If asked what state had the highest rate of incarceration rate of black men, most people would likely cite somewhere in the old Confederacy, perhaps Mississippi or Louisiana. They would be about 1000 miles too far South. According to labor … Continue reading →

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The Criminalization of Poverty

Posted on 11/19/2015 by James Kilgore

When most people think of mass incarceration they think of massive prisons–Stateville, Sing Sing, Angola. But mass incarceration has a local face: jails. In our own county Build Programs, Not Jails has fought for three years to halt plans to … Continue reading →

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New Book by James Kilgore, Understanding Mass Incarceration

Posted on 09/03/2015 by James Kilgore

Frequent Public i contributor James Kilgore’s book Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People’s Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time was released September 1. Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow has called James “one of my … Continue reading →

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FirstFollowers Reentry Program Opens Doors

Posted on 05/07/2015 by James Kilgore

Governor Bruce Rauner has pledged to reduce the state prison population by 25% over the course of the next ten years. At present there are over 400 people in Champaign County on state parole. If Rauner makes good on his … Continue reading →

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Chuco’s Justice Center in Los Angeles: Home of “College Prep, Not Prison Prep”

Posted on 10/01/2014 by James Kilgore

In August I travelled to California as part of my research into the use of electronic monitoring in the criminal justice system. My first stop was a converted factory along the border between South Central Los Angeles and Inglewood, Chuco’s … Continue reading →

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Voices from the No More Jails Campaign

Posted on 02/01/2014 by James Kilgore

In early 2012 the powers that be in Champaign County criminal justice brought forward a plan to close the downtown jail and build a massive extension onto the satellite facility in East Urbana. When the proposal came before the County … Continue reading →

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21st Century Slavery, Electronic Style

Posted on 11/14/2013 by James Kilgore

Somewhere in the middle of a November night in 2009 I got a phone call from my then 95 year old mother. She said she had chest pains, had already phoned 911 and thought she was having a heart attack.  … Continue reading →

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Fight to Stop New Jail Coming to a Head

Posted on 05/24/2013 by James Kilgore

I’ve been involved in the No New Jails in Champaign County campaign for over a year. Likely sometime in June or July our efforts will come to a head. The County Board likely will take a vote on whether to … Continue reading →

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The New Jim Crow Comes to Champaign-Urbana

Posted on 02/20/2013 by James Kilgore

If there was one constant during my six-and-a-half years in prison (apart from bad food), it was being surrounded by thousands of  mostly African-American and Latino men doing sentences like twenty, thirty or forty years for drug-related crimes. One friend … Continue reading →

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The New Operation Wetback? Immigration and Mass Incarceration in the Obama Era

Posted on 08/23/2011 by James Kilgore

(This article first appeared in Counterpunch Online August 4, 2011) Last week Representative Luis Gutierrez (D-IL) joined a demonstration in Washington D.C. to protest the refusal of President Obama to use his executive powers to halt the deportations of the … Continue reading →

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