Champaign County Bailout Coalition Updates

This post has updates and links from the last meeting of the Champaign County Bailout Coalition, but first some context with the passage of a major piece of legislation. The Illinois General Assembly recently passed a police and criminal justice reform bill that is now waiting on the Governor's signature to become law. In a recent Cheat Sheet post we had the Champaign County Sheriff's reaction, but the bill would also impact many organizations that work with the Criminal Justice system like the Champaign County Bailout Coalition. NBC Chicago had a detailed overview of the bill earlier this month:

House Bill 3653, authored by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, was approved by the Illinois General Assembly Wednesday, bringing "significant changes" to things like police training policies, police accountability, transparency in law enforcement and the rights of detainees and prisoners, according to Sen. Elgie R. Sims, Jr., who sponsored the bill.

Among the changes the bill would bring are the elimination of monetary bail, a requirement that all police officers wear body cameras by 2025, a ban on all police chokeholds, new guidelines for "decertification" of police officers, and an end to suspended licenses for failure to pay, among several other changes. It also bans police departments from purchasing military equipment like .50 caliber rifles and tanks, increases protection for whistleblowers, and adds to rights for detainees to make phone calls and access their personal contacts before police questioning.

Full article here with a breakdown of the bill by topic. There is a great deal of pushback by law enforcement across the state. From CBS Chicago:

The executive director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police, Ed Wojcicki said he wants to be part of any upcoming discussions involving the bill.

“We’re going to ask the governor to veto it, or certainly ammendatorially veto it,” Wojicicki said. “We’re going to identify the most egregious portions of the bill.”

Once he gets the bill, the governor has 60 days to sign it. He issued a statement Wednesday supporting the bill, calling it a model for the nation in justice reform.

That full article with more details here.

The end of cash bail isn't immediate in the bill and it appears that it could take a couple years to transition to a system where a suspect is jailed based on factors such as public safety and flight risk as opposed to how much money they have. The Bailout Coalition's website about page makes clear how their mission remains relevant until that transition occurs:

The Champaign County Bailout Coalition is a non-profit and volunteer-run alliance of local individuals and organizations committed to the abolition of money bail as the criterion for determining pretrial release in Champaign County. Unaffordable bail disregards the legal right of the presumption of innocence and condemns individuals to jail before trial. Moreover, decades of research show that the risks of an individual committing a punishable offense during pretrial release or missing their court dates are unaffected by payment of bond. We believe that justice will be done only when this criminal practice is replaced by mandatory non-monetary release for as many people as possible and support for those awaiting trial.

More information on their about page here. In their most recent meeting and on their facebook page they have made it clear they're still looking for volunteers right now:

CCBC collaborates with other criminal justice reform minded organizations for court watching, fundraising and groups like the Coalition to End Money Bond. Local criminal justice activist and Co-Director of the FirstFollowers Reentry Program in Champaign County highlighted the bail reforms in his initial impressions of the passed bill:

The ending of cash bond is momentous and has been the product of years of grassroots struggle. While legislators will no doubt claim credit for this advance, the real credit goes to the Coalition to End Money Bond and the Chicago Community Bond Fund and other activists/advocates who have been so instrumental in getting this passed. In keeping away multiple attempts to water down this legislation and raising consciousness about EM and all the other ways the system tries to pretend they are making change. I especially salute the impacted people who stepped up so heroically to share their experiences of EM and pretrial injustice. Without their stories and determination, this legislation could not have passed. 

People can listen to more reactions from various organizations and activists at a virtual townhall on the Chicago Community Bond Fund facebook page.

Last week's meeting covered a multitude of topics, but a timely issue involved advocacy for priority access to the COVID-19 vaccine for incarcerated people in prisons and jails. Danville Correctional Center recently had an outbreak that they're still battling. From WCIA last month:

 New numbers released by the Illinois Department of Corrections show 30% of Danville Correctional Center’s inmates are currently battling COVID-19.

“We dreaded this day,” Education Justice Project‘s Rebecca Ginsburg said. “We thought it was likely to come eventually. The warden, especially at Danville Correctional Center, has done a good job of delaying this day. But the day has arrived. The numbers are increasing, doubling – more than doubling on a weekly basis.”

Full article here. Another update from WCIA a few days ago included two new deaths:

Two men in their 60s who are inmates at the Illinois Department of Corrections prison in Danville have died since Thursday after contracting coronavirus...

WCIA reported Jan. 5 that an inmate in his 40s had died on Dec. 26.

Since the start of the pandemic, a total of 896 inmates have tested positive for the virus. Of those 741 have recovered and 155 cases are still active.

Another 147 jail staffers have also tested positive. Of those, 135 have recovered and 12 cases are still active.

That full blurb here. The local Champaign County Sheriff gave a presentation on safety issues at the Main and Satellite jails in Champaign County to the County Board's facilities committee (agenda, video) earlier this month. His presentation included the various ways they have attempted to prevent outbreaks locally in spite of serious limitations in their ability to separate and quarantine the number of incarcerated people during intake and in housing.

The Champaign County Bailout Coalition meetings are bimonthly on Thursday evenings and the upcoming dates/times can be found on their facebook events page here. Their meetings are currently on-line and their next meeting is January 28th at 5-6:30pm.