BPI CONTINUES THE FIGHT FOR JUSTICE
UPDATE - EMPOWERING COMMUNITIES FOR PUBLIC SAFETY ORDINANCE

BPI’s Police Accountability team reached a significant milestone this month. For years, BPI has worked in partnership with GAPA (the Grassroots Alliance for Police Accountability), a community coalition that developed and advocated for an ordinance that would help transform policing in Chicago, creating a citywide community commission with the power to bring about systemic reform, and local “district councils” that would work in each police district to increase safety and accountability. Earlier this year, GAPA joined forces with the coalition that developed and advocated for the CPAC (Civilian Police Accountability Council) ordinance. The two coalitions created a joint ordinance, Empowering Communities for Public Safety. 

The joint ordinance included the GAPA structure and powers, plus a referendum that would ask Chicago voters whether the commission should be mostly elected and have expanded powers. The referendum faced strong opposition from City Council, and this month the coalitions agreed to split ECPS into two ordinances so that the referendum can be considered separately. Though the City Council delayed a scheduled committee action on the ordinance last week, the newly configured ECPS ordinance clearly sets out the commission and district council structure long demanded by community coalitions. Now is the time for the City Council to adopt this transformative change for the Chicago Police Department.
DECREASING THE ILLINOIS PRISON POPULATION

BPI is working to equitably decrease the Illinois prison population, including with expanded mechanisms for midsentence review.

In November 2019, Ashton Hoselton, BPI Staff Counsel and Polikoff-Gautreaux Fellow, was introduced to Mr. Allen, an inmate incarcerated at the Dixon Correctional Center who had been in jail for more than 40 years. Although Mr. Allen became eligible for parole in 1992, he had never been represented by legal counsel and had received zero votes for parole over 29 years.

Ashton decided to fight for Mr. Allen's parole, preparing the case and with only one in-person legal visit and 30-minute legal calls that had to be scheduled in advance due to COVID-19, arguing for Mr. Allen's release at the Prisoner Review Board. He received positive votes from all 12 Prison Review Board members and was released this spring.

Despite the nearly thirty years it took Mr. Allen to be released on parole, he is relatively lucky. Illinois has not had a full parole system since 1978, the year of Mr. Allen's conviction. Parole offered him a chance to prove that he is accomplished, transformed, and unlikely to recidivate. Without this opportunity for parole, Mr. Allen would have been required to live behind bars whether or not his continued incarceration served any purpose. Others behind bars in Illinois also deserve this second chance.

Thanks to family, reentry service providers, and his lawyer, Mr. Allen left the Dixon Correctional Center with a strong network of support that will help him succeed in a much different society from the one he remembers from 1978.
BPI SUPPORTS THE CREATION OF A TASK FORCE TO ADDRESS HIGHER EDUCATION IN PRISON

BPI’s Justice Reform program continues to advise the Freedom to Learn Campaign in its efforts to expand higher education in prison in Illinois. The Illinois General Assembly adopted House Joint Resolution 27 at the end of its recent legislative session. This resolution, championed by Freedom to Learn, will create a first-of-its-kind task force to evaluate higher education in prison in Illinois and recommend a legislative action plan to expand educational access for incarcerated and formerly incarcerated scholars.
IDA B. WELLS MONUMENT UNVEILING

As a member of the Ida B. Wells Monument Committee and fiscal sponsor of this project, BPI is pleased to announce the monument's unveiling, which will take place in late June. Created by sculptor Richard Hunt, the monument honoring renowned journalist and civil rights activist Ida B. Wells will stand in the center of Oakwood Shores, the new mixed-income community on the former site of the Ida B. Wells public housing development.

To view the live stream of the unveiling, follow @BPIChicago on Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter, and Instagram.
JOIN US IN THE FIGHT FOR JUSTICE

BPI continues the fight for racial and economic equity through its four program areas: Housing, Justice Reform, Police Accountability, and Early Childhood Education. As we continue the work to make a change, we invite you to join us.