UUPMI concerned over COVID-19 and care for those incarceratedA State-by-State Look at Coronavirus in Prisons
by The Marshall Project ::updated daily:: The Marshall Project is collecting data on COVID-19 infections in state and federal prisons. See how the virus has affected correctional facilities where you live. Read more... "Demonstrators denounce state’s handling of outbreak at Stateville prison"
by Alex Ortiz May 3, 2020 My Suburban Life "Parole Illinois, a coalition of activists in and out of prison working “toward a more just and humane legal system” organized the demonstration. The group described Stateville as the “epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak in the Illinois carceral system.” The Rev. Jason Lydon, a Unitarian Universalist minister at the Second Unitarian Church in Chicago, described the group of family members, advocates and faith leaders as “people of conscience coming together” to raise awareness of the situation in Illinois prisons and jails. He said the demonstration was an effort to “remind everybody that those inside the prison are not alone.” “We are fighting hard to get them out,” Lydon said. “And to ensure that they have the care that they need.” Read More... April 8, 2020
UUPMI Joins with Others to Demand #MassReleaseNow in Chicago View clips of UUPMI Steering Committee Members Monica Cosby and the Rev. Jason Lydon in this news report about yesterday’s decarceration caravan: "A noisy protest outside Cook County Jail occurred Tuesday as activists demand the release of all 4,500 detainees during the COVID-19 pandemic." https://www.fox32chicago.com/video/671607 "Anonymous Open Letter from Inside Stateville"
April 7, 2020 The Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois received this letter through one of our volunteer members: "Since I've been moved to another unit, there have been multiple guys moved out because of a positive Covid19 test. The gym has been filled with tents to take the guys who are infected with the deadly virus. However, I still hear somebody throwing up each morning and a few people coughing. I wonder if they're too scared to ask for a test or their request has been denied. One inmate said to a nurse that he was having headaches, body aches, running a fever, and lost his senses of smell and taste. She said, "That's just stress; do some art or exercise." All we can do is sit back and watch all the talk on the news. We hear about individuals, first responders, and communities; but little about us. We have no voice, like we do not exist; yet, we are somebody's sons or daughters, brothers or sisters, fathers or mothers. Our lives matter too! We are getting little information and the small motel-sized bar of Dial soap they gave to each of us is gone. We never got the hand sanitizer the governor promised. We're just sitting ducks and the governor needs to act fast on reviewing elderly incarcerated citizens who pose no threat to society. Right now, society is posing a threat to our lives by having us cluster together waiting on a viral death sentence. I've never been on death row, but I feel like I'm on it right now. There is no phone call in sight for the governor to give us a stay. I wasn't sentenced to die, so why do I feel like I am on the fast track to a death sentence. We appreciate the governor's passionate words that all inmates placed in outside hospitals will be treated the same as everybody else, but we need action now before we start rolling into the hospital or makeshift hospitals in record numbers. We don't want to die like this. Governor, use your powers for good. We need a miracle that you can look past political backlash and act with compassion to review elderly prisoners, violent or non-violent, and let us live. Human lives are at stake, and we need a fearless leader to break new ground to save us from the threshold of certain death. We need the governor to show his true humanitarianism to review the most vulnerable people in here to be released from this incubator. We need protection in the worst way. We didn't bring this into the prison, so we need some type of reparation to free us from this death trap. Statistics show the elderly have the lowest recidivism rates, so why keep those who pose the smallest threat to society inside a vulnerable space such as we live in right now? This feels like a death camp and I can't smell the ovens or hear the human screams but I can hear the coughing and nauseating echoes of sickness bounding off the walls in the wee hours of the morning. Please, Governor, act now!!!" March 7, 2020
On the morning of March 7, 2020, UUPMI sent a letter to Rob Jeffreys, Acting Director Illinois Department of Corrections and Jim Kaitschuk, Executive Director Illinois Sheriffs’ Association. The letter addresses concerns over how COVID-19 may affect people who work and live in Illinois prisons and jails. Read the letter here... Learning together"How To Hide a COVID-19 Hotspot? Pretend Prisoners Don’t Exist"
by Abbie VanSickle The Marshall Project May 27, 2020 The coronavirus-stricken prisoners kept off the books. Officials in Santa Barbara County faced a dilemma weeks ago. They desperately wanted permission from California authorities to “reopen” their local economy as the coronavirus ebbed in the state. But a major outbreak of COVID-19 at FCI Lompoc, the federal prison there, had skewed the metrics. Santa Barbara resolved its problem by lobbying state officials to exclude prisoners from relevant public health analyses. “It’s a fiction,” says a justice reform advocate. It’s also a scenario likely to be repeated in other counties across the country where prisons are COVID-19 hotspots. Read more... "Virus Forces Judges Into Life-or-Death Calls on Inmate Releases"
by Madison Alder May 18, 2020 Judges are interpreting the law on the fly as they face an unprecedented spike in requests for “compassionate release” from prison, coming to different conclusions about what can be done in the context of a pandemic. The swell of requests for what’s known as compassionate release come after the passage of a law, written before the Covid-19 outbreak, that made it easier for those requests to be filed with the courts. Read more... 8 of the Top 10 Biggest U.S. Coronavirus Hotspots Are Prisons and Jails
Reason April 29, 2020 by C.J. Ciaramella "The numbers and dire news stories underscore what civil liberties groups and correctional officer unions have been trying to warn local, state, and federal agencies about since COVID-19 reached the country: that jails and prisons were woefully unprepared to handle an epidemic, and that those institutions would inevitably spread the virus into nearby communities unless drastic measures were taken." Read more Self-led Learning page lists historic offerings and more to help deepen your knowledge.
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Our MissionWe equip UU's in Illinois to transform institutions and support people harmed by the prison industrial complex. Read More
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HUGE Celebrations for Monica Cosby:
FIELD FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES ITS FIRST LEADERS FOR A NEW CHICAGO AWARD RECIPIENTS -- The Field Foundation today announced the 14 recipients of its inaugural Leaders for a New Chicago award, supported by a $2.1 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to expand the definition of leadership in Chicago.
“In Chicago we have no shortage of brilliant minds working every day to change lives and reshape our city,” said Angelique Power, president, the Field Foundation. “We are so honored to be in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation as we hand over a megaphone, share resources, and then sit back and watch as these incredible people continue to soar, bringing our city to more just and beautiful places than we could’ve ever imagined.”
THE 2019 LEADERS FOR A NEW CHICAGO AWARDEES ARE:
• Monica Cosby, a leader of the participatory defense work at Westside Justice Center and one of the leading advocates for incarcerated women and the fight for post-incarceration rights in Chicago.
Read More
FIELD FOUNDATION ANNOUNCES ITS FIRST LEADERS FOR A NEW CHICAGO AWARD RECIPIENTS -- The Field Foundation today announced the 14 recipients of its inaugural Leaders for a New Chicago award, supported by a $2.1 million grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation to expand the definition of leadership in Chicago.
“In Chicago we have no shortage of brilliant minds working every day to change lives and reshape our city,” said Angelique Power, president, the Field Foundation. “We are so honored to be in partnership with the MacArthur Foundation as we hand over a megaphone, share resources, and then sit back and watch as these incredible people continue to soar, bringing our city to more just and beautiful places than we could’ve ever imagined.”
THE 2019 LEADERS FOR A NEW CHICAGO AWARDEES ARE:
• Monica Cosby, a leader of the participatory defense work at Westside Justice Center and one of the leading advocates for incarcerated women and the fight for post-incarceration rights in Chicago.
Read More
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The In Prison Ministry works to create a spiritual space where all people can come as they are and be affirmed in their inherent worth and dignity, no matter their identities or past harm they may have caused. The outside work of the UU Prison Ministry focuses on preparing our congregations to become radically welcoming places for formerly incarcerated and convicted people. We embrace the call of Unitarian Universalism to make our congregations accepting of all people. The Prison Ministry will also connect Unitarian Universalists to local and state-level policy initiatives that seek to build a world community of peace, liberty and justice for all. |
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