Every year, a quarter of a million people cycle through Illinois’ jails. Most of them are incarcerated not because they pose a threat to their community, but because they can not afford to pay a money bail. This unjust practice is coming to an end.
In January 2021, the Illinois legislature passed the Pretrial Fairness Act. This historic legislation restores the presumption of innocence and makes Illinois safer by ending money bond and the unconstitutional practice of caging people pretrial simply because they cannot afford to buy their freedom. The law will go into effect in 2023.
We must protect these crucial reforms from attacks rooted in racism and fear, which seek to perpetuate the system of mass incarceration.
A diverse movement for fairness, safety, & justice.
The Pretrial Fairness Act was written by advocates and organizers in the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice and the Coalition to End Money Bond. It was championed in Springfield by Senators Elgie Sims and Robert Peters and Representative Justin Slaughter and supported by thousands of people and more than 100 organizations, including victims' rights advocates.
More than 150 faith leaders signed an open letter calling on state legislators to defend pretrial justice reforms and oppose policies promoting mass incarceration.
THE PRETRIAL FAIRNESS ACT DISMANTLES A KEY DRIVER OF MASS INCARCERATION.
By ending money bond, Illinois is not only creating a fairer pretrial justice system, we are striking a massive blow to the racist prison industrial complex. Wealth-based pretrial jailing has coerced many people in Black, Brown, and poor communities into accepting plea deals they may not have taken if the court system had respected their right to be free awaiting trial. Incarceration destabilizes people’s lives, often causing them to lose jobs, housing, and even custody of their children, ultimately making it harder for people to rebuild their lives after their release from jail.
Over time, the changes made by the Pretrial Fairness Act will not only reduce the number of people caged in county jails but also the number of people in Illinois state prisons.
LEARN HOW THE PRETRIAL FAIRNESS ACT IS TRANSFORMING OUR LEGAL SYSTEM:
Incarceration has never been an effective public safety strategy; it disrupts people’s lives in ways that destabilize families and communities and make us less safe. Limiting pretrial incarceration allows people to maintain relationships, jobs, and stability in their lives while awaiting trial—and our communities will be safer as a result.
250,000
People
People
Illinois incarcerates a quarter of a million people every year in county jails.
72
Hours
Hours
People incarcerated for as little as 72 hours are 2.5 times more likely to be unemployed one year later
0
Cities
Cities
No state or city has seen a rise in crime as a result of reducing or eliminating their use of money bail.
Illinois incarcerates a quarter of a million people every year in county jails.
People incarcerated for as little as 72 hours are 2.5 times more likely to be unemployed one year later
No state or city has seen a rise in crime as a result of reducing or eliminating their use of money bail.
Stories of Survivors of Pretrial Punishment
Flo
"I was locked up for two months, because I couldn't afford to pay $7500."
Lavette
"When I realized I wasn't going to be able to go home, the first thing I could think about was my kids. I had never been away from them."
Miguel
"Not only does it affect yourself, but it also affects your immediate family. I even lost my mom who passed away during the whole process."
Jason
"In jail, the conditions are so bad, you want to do everything you can do get out of the there as soon as possible. You might be pressured to take a plea deal."
Public safety is not improved by money bond and pretrial incarceration
"The protections for survivors in the bill are a step toward a better system for all. People with low incomes will no longer be locked up simply because they can’t pay bail.
People won’t be incarcerated pre-trial because of racist and classist stereotypes that perpetuate fear against Black men, in particular. Survivors will be able to advocate for what they need to feel safe and secure."
We are Safer When Finances Don’t Determine Freedom
Currently, the primary factor determining whether someone is free pretrial is the amount of money in their wallet—not public safety. The Pretrial Fairness Act takes money out of the picture and replaces it with a fair and robust hearing process. By considering the specific circumstances of every case instead of relying on access to money to make release determinations, the Pretrial Fairness Act makes communities safer.
Pretrial incarceration destabilizes the lives and endangers the health of people who use substances and their families—without offering any benefit to them or their communities.The overwhelming majority of people who use drugs do not have a substance use disorder or require treatment. People who are incarcerated are subjected to sudden, forced abstinence from substances, which can cause deadly withdrawal symptoms and lead to decreased tolerance and increased risk of fatal overdose upon release. When treatment is necessary, it is most successful when offered voluntarily in community settings where health and safety is properly monitored and communal support is readily available.
Incarceration Is Not A Substitute for Mental Health Care
Due to the criminalization of mental illness, people with mental health diagnoses make up 44% of those incarcerated in U.S. prisons and jails. There could not be a worse place for people who need mental health care because proper mental health treatment cannot happen in a cage. Even when attempting to provide treatment, many features of jails and prisons are inherently detrimental to mental health, including: overcrowding, violence and abuse, forced solitude and isolation from social networks, lack of privacy, lack of meaningful activity, insecurity about future prospects, and inadequate health services—especially mental health services. People with mental health concerns need pretrial freedom so they can receive treatment and support in their communities.
The Southern: From Protest to Progress: An overview of Illinois’ criminal justice reform
"Law enforcement is spreading the narrative that ‘these dangerous predators will be out when this goes into effect’ but the truth is abolishing cash bail makes Illinoisans safer."
Op-ed: Ending cash bail will improve public safety
"Public safety is not improved by money bond and pretrial incarceration. It’s why the two major statewide anti-domestic violence coalitions supported the plan to end money bond that passed through the General Assembly earlier this month."
Illinois May Be First State to Eliminate Money Bail, But the Fight Isn’t Over
"The Pretrial Fairness Act will make Illinois’s pretrial system a national model. In addition to ending money bail, a variety of other provisions will improve the fairness of the state’s pretrial system and ensure that the vast majority of people are released before trial."
New no cash bail law provides hope for those in Chicago who’ve been unable to pay
"The law will bring 'hope into the Black and Brown community,' which has been impacted by pretrial incarceration. 'People who are coming home or have charges, making sure they are able to still work, provide for their families and try to put programs into the communities.'"
Illinois Will End Cash Bail - And Limit Use of High-Tech Incarceration
"The reforms will avoid the most dangerous pitfalls of quietly emerging 'alternatives' to money bail: algorithms that predict peoples’ 'risk' and detain those given higher scores, and surveillance devices that track people who maintain legal freedom before trial."
Illinois poised to become first state to end wealth-based pre-trial detention
"Numerous studies have shown that bail does little to achieve its intended purpose of ensuring court attendance – people released on their own recognizance were just as likely to come back to court for their trials as people who posted money bond and no more likely to reoffend awaiting trial."
Did Illinois get bail reform right? Criminal justice advocates are optimistic
"The bill is very well thought through and has real potential. By seeing the experiments in other jurisdictions, Illinois was able to really try to mitigate against falling into some of those same pitfalls."
Let’s Stop Pointing Fingers and Solve This Violence Problem Together
"Pointing fingers of blame will not make us any safer. It won’t bring us any closer to justice. It won’t stop the shooting or the looting, and our communities deserve more."
The Complicated Truth about Chicago Crime
"[C]rime and violence have complicated causes, and any simple diagnosis is likely to be deficient, if not entirely wrong. In this case, there is no reason to put much stock in these claims."
After Recent Unrest, Chicago Leaders Are Pointing Fingers In All The Wrong Places
"In difficult moments like this, we can’t let bad faith attacks set our community back. What our families need are resources and investment, not more police on the streets."
There can be no justice in raised bridges
"It’s explained to us that it’s hard to have compassion for looters because their response to the violence of systemic racism and inequality is illegal, and it is violent. These are false choices aimed at dividing us."
Dispatch: Chicago Mayor's Flailing Response to Recent Unrest
Alderman of Chicago's 25th Ward, Byron Sigcho-Lopez: "Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot is offering a punitive status quo be imposed on those arrested during recent protests."
"A substantial step toward dismantling the systemic racism that plagues our communities, our state and our nation, and brings us closer to true safety, true fairness and true justice."
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker on the Pretrial Fairness Act
