Category Archives: Prisoners

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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Incarceration figures

Posted on 05/27/2016 by Public i

Some figures compiled in the Coalition for Prisoners’ Rights Newsletter (April 2016). Reprinted with Permission. I. Number Incarcerated in U.S., 2014 1.5 million people at an annual per person cost of $80 billion–approximately $51,250 each. (A “free world” minimum wage of $15/hr … Continue reading →

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Supporting the Voices Inside: The Freedom Archives

Posted on 01/28/2016 by Nathaniel Moore

“When the prison doors are opened the real dragon will fly out.” -Ho Chi Minh The movements to end mass incarceration were re-invigorated in early September as a settlement in the class action lawsuit Ashker v. Governor of California was … Continue reading →

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Children With Incarcerated Parents Played Key Role in Phone Justice Victory!

Posted on 11/19/2015 by Brian Dolinar

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted recently to cap the rates of phone calls from prisons and jails after years of profiteering by telecommunications companies that have made millions off of those incarcerated and their families. In her comments before … 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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Art Contest for People Incarcerated

Posted on 11/19/2015 by Public i

TMK Cleaning service is announcing an art contest for those incarcerated! We will accept submissions from January 1, 2016 through April 4, 2016. This is a contest to enter your best art through poetry, short writing, painting etc. Only published … Continue reading →

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Islam and the Inmate: Mislabeled “Menaces”

Posted on 07/08/2015 by Public i

By Anatta Oknokwo “Allahu Akbar!” Mack Trimble, Jr. enthusiastically calls his fellow inmates to prayer.  Soon the chapel of Jackson State Prison will hum with the melodic recitation of the Holy Qur’an as the community of Muslim males prostrate before … Continue reading →

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“Inside Voices”: Poetry from the Champaign County Jail

Posted on 11/14/2013 by Rachel Storm

INSIDE VOICES In a class facilitated by educators, Rachel Lauren Storm, Becca Sorgert, and Meadow Jones, incarcerated men have participated in a weekly poetry lab offered at the Champaign County Jail since January of 2012. Inside Voices is a ongoing column … Continue reading →

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How Privatization Destroyed Award-Winning Suicide Prevention Program in Champaign County Jail

Posted on 08/01/2013 by Brian Dolinar

Several years ago, while working at our local Books to Prisoners, I met a volunteer who had formerly worked as a mental health counselor in the local jail. This was just after there had been three jail suicides within a … Continue reading →

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Education Justice Project Poets (First Installment)

Posted on 03/12/2013 by EJP

The mission of the Education Justice project is to build a model college-in-prison program that demonstrates the positive impacts of higher education upon incarcerated people, their families, the communities from which they come, and society as a whole.  We  provide upper-division college … Continue reading →

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Inmate Poetry

Posted on 02/24/2013 by Books to Prisoners

These poems were written by Illinois prison inmates and collected by Urbana Champaign Books to Prisoners. The Public i thanks Books to Prisoners for making them available. We will be publishing more inmate poetry in upcoming issues. For more information, … Continue reading →

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Close Tamms Supermax Prison

Posted on 06/28/2012 by Belden Fields

  Belden Fields “A considerable number of the prisoners fell, after even a short confinement, into a semi-fatuous condition, from which it was next to impossible to arouse them, and others became violently insane; others still, committed suicide; while those … Continue reading →

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A Bad Idea: The County Board’s Proposal to Spend $20 Million on Jail Construction

Posted on 04/24/2012 by Public i

Over the last few months a classic political power struggle has been taking place at Champaign County Board meetings.  At the center of it has been a Board proposal to spend $20 million on jail construction. People from Champaign-Urbana Citizens … Continue reading →

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CUCPJ Public Forum on New Jail Proposal

Posted on 04/22/2012 by Public i

Champaign Urbana Citizens for Peace and Justice Present A Public Forum on: The County Board’s Proposal to Spend $20 Million on a New Jail Speakers: Carol Ammons, County Board member who opposes the jail proposal Members of Decarcerate Monroe County, … Continue reading →

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The Sound Before the Fury: The California Prison Hunger Strike

Posted on 08/23/2011 by Gregory Koger

Beginning on July 1, 2011, hundreds of prisoners of all races in California’s Pelican Bay SHU (“Security Housing Unit”) began a historic hunger strike to demand an end to the cruel and inhumane treatment that they suffer under – including … Continue reading →

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Rethinking Illinois’ Truth-In-Sentencing Law

Posted on 06/23/2011 by Joseph Dole

We are all aware of the dire fiscal state Illinois currently finds itself in. One of the main causes of this has been years of passing laws without any consideration for the financial costs of their enactment. There is now … Continue reading →

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Cruelty to the Mentally Ill

Posted on 10/05/2010 by Mary Coleman

Do you know what goes on behind locked doors at the Champaign County Satellite Jail? You would probably be surprised to find out. For people with serious mental illnesses, the jail policies for dealing with these people amount to cruelty. … Continue reading →

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The System of Snitching

Posted on 09/05/2010 by Barbara Kessel

“Crime is contagious. If the government becomes a lawbreaker, it breeds contempt for law. To declare that the government may commit crimes in order to secure the conviction of a private criminal_would bring terrible retribution.“ —Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis, … Continue reading →

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The U.S. (In)Justice System Doesn’t Work. The Alternative Just Might

Posted on 09/05/2010 by Mikhail Lyubansky

I’VE BEEN THINKING A LOT ABOUT justice lately, pondering the injustice of the way that justice is administered in this country. For years I’ve pointed out and lamented the racial bias evident in both law enforcement and the criminal courts. … Continue reading →

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Education vs. Incarceration: The Early Release Program in Illinois

Posted on 07/05/2010 by Brian Dolinar

With a current state budget deficit in Illinois of some $13 billion, among the largest in the country, state legislators are making tough decisions about where to save money. Recently, Governor Pat Quinn proposed an “early release” program for prison … Continue reading →

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