Eliminating permanent punishments should be a public safety priority
Advocates across the state are celebrating the Illinois Supreme Court's decision ruling the SAFE-T Act, which would eliminate cash bail, constitutional. This is a critical step forward that will ensure that public safety, not income, is the top priority in our criminal legal system.
As both a former police officer and a person who was once incarcerated, I've seen the injustice of the criminal legal system from both sides. Eliminating cash bail is a major win - but there is still so much more work to be done, not just on the front-end of the process, but after people are released.
Excluding weekends and holidays, people are released from the Illinois Department of Corrections every day. Eventually, 95% of everyone incarcerated will be released. These returning residents have served their sentences and are deemed fit to reintegrate into the community. But what they find when they're released are significant barriers to housing, employment, education, civic engagement and more.
The Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments, of which I am a part, has identified hundreds of laws, commonly referred to as collateral consequences and which we term "permanent punishments," that essentially prevent individuals who have served their sentences from ever being freed from the criminal legal system.
In Illinois, 3.3 million adults have been arrested or convicted of a crime since 1979, with people of color most impacted. These permanent punishment laws and regulations in Illinois deny people access to housing, education, employment, civic engagement and more.
In my organizing work, for instance, I met a man who became an IT expert while in prison and following his release, was hired by a bank as an IT specialist making more than enough money to thrive. In spite of his skills, he was fired because slow background check process revealed a decades-old drug conviction. He was skilled enough to make the cut, but the mere existence of a criminal record served as the catalyst for his termination.
This is not just a matter of justice - it's a matter of public safety. Any politician who is serious about improving public safety in our state should be focused on stopping crime and violence at its root. When we invest in communities and give people the tools and the opportunity to truly reintegrate into the community and become productive members of society, we reduce recidivism rates.
Given the sheer number of permanent punishments that exist, it would take decades to address them singularly. That is why advocates are rallying behind the P.I.E.C.E. (Promoting Involvement and Empowerment through Civic Engagement) Act, which would remove barriers to holding local elected office, serving on boards and committees and other administrative positions. By ensuring formerly incarcerated individuals have a voice in crafting the very policies that impact their day-to-day lives, this legislation would be a major step toward eliminating the constellation of permanent punishments.
Article 1, Section 1 of the Illinois Constitution's Bill of Rights states that, "All men are by nature free and independent and have certain inherent and inalienable rights among which are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ..." Nowhere in our Constitution are returning residents excluded.
There is a political willpower to dismantle these harmful and unjust barriers. This past legislative session, legislators passed the F.R.E.E. (Families' Right to Estate Equity) Act, which will create a path where persons with felony convictions will be able to serve at the pleasure of their loved ones as executor or administrator of a will. Under the law as previously written, persons with a felony conviction are barred from being named as executor or appointed as administrator of an estate.
Barriers can be removed. But it takes the will and power of the people and legislative action.
Article 1, Section 11 of the Illinois Constitution states that, "All penalties shall be determined by the seriousness of the offense and with the objective of restoring the offender to useful citizenship ..." Permanent punishments are clearly in violation of the Constitution. While there are provisions in the Illinois Constitution restricting some of those rights for persons convicted of felonies, there are other provisions which restore rights "not later than upon completion of [a] sentence" as it relates to voting eligibility.
What is clear here is that the people, through their elected officials, have the power to render free those who have paid their debt to society - for the sake of justice and public safety. That is why the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments is traveling the state this summer to educate and mobilize Illinoisans on how we can eliminate these unjust laws. After all, life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are inherent and inalienable rights.
• Gregory Chambers is policy manager for the Illinois Coalition to End Permanent Punishments.