Learning together

Supreme Court Concludes That Snatching a Necklace Is a Violent Felony: New York Times
Purse snatching and pickpocketing can amount to violent felonies for purposes of a federal law, the Supreme Court ruled on Tuesday in a 5-to-4 decision featuring unusual alliances. ... Figuring out what qualifies as one of those earlier offenses is not always easy. Tuesday’s decision considered a part of the law that defined violent felonies to include offenses involving the use or threat of physical force. The question in the case was whether minimal force, as in a purse snatching, is enough.
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Neuroscientists Make a Case against Solitary Confinement: Scientific American
SAN DIEGO—Robert King spent 29 years living alone in a six by nine-foot prison cell.He was part of the “Angola Three”—a trio of men kept in solitary confinement for decades and named for the Louisiana state penitentiary where they were held. King was released in 2001 after a judge overturned his 1973 conviction for killing a fellow inmate. Since his exoneration he has dedicated his life to raising awareness about the psychological harms of solitary confinement.
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There Are Thousands of Cyntoia Browns: Mariame Kaba on Criminalization of Sexual Violence Survivors: Democracy Now
Cyntoia Brown was granted full clemency by Republican Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam on Monday after serving 15 years in prison. The decision follows months of intense public pressure and outrage over her case. Brown was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of first-degree murder for shooting her rapist as a teenager. She had been sexually trafficked and repeatedly abused and drugged. The shooting happened when Brown was just 16 years old, but she was tried as an adult. We speak with Mariame Kaba, organizer and educator who has worked on anti-domestic violence programs, anti-incarceration and racial justice programs since the late 1980s. Kaba is the co-founder of Survived and Punished, an organization that supports survivors of violence who have been criminalized for defending themselves. She’s also a board member of Critical Resistance.
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Prison Cruelty : The Atlantic - April 1920
Remember as you read this is almost 100 years old and still too relevant today: To the uninitiated, prison cruelty seems to be a rare and isolated phenomenon. When on occasion instances of it become known and the community has its sense of decency outraged, there is generally a demand for investigation and removal of the guilty warden and keeper. With that achieved, the average citizen settles back comfortably into the old habits of life, without asking too many questions, and with the general assumption that, after all, it cannot be expected that prisons should be turned into palaces.
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Self-led Learning page lists historic offerings and more to help deepen your knowledge.

POSTPONED
Hearing: Electronic monitoring for people exiting IDOC.
Thursday, January 17th
1 to 3 p.m.
Michael A. Bilandic Building,
160 N. LaSalle St., Chicago
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UUPMI Calendar

CLF Ambassadors - Pen Pals and Visits
Reflection and Support
Sat. February 2 @ 2 pm
ZOOM On line meeting
Register here
​
PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
​Saturday, February 16th 
12:00 — 4:00 pm
Lake Country Unitarian Universalist 
​W299N5595 Grace Drive
Hartland, WI 53029
Register here

PRISON INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX
Saturday, March 30th
10 am - 3 pm
Second Unitarian Church - Chicago
656 W Barry, Chicago
​Register here

Events you should know about

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Our Mission

We equip UU's in Illinois to ​transform institutions and support people harmed by the prison industrial complex.  Read More

Congratulations Monica Cosby long time supporter of UUPMI working to ensure other women are never faced with prison.
ARTICLE:  In Prison, Discipline Comes Down Hardest On Women : NPR 
​When Monica Cosby, Tyteanna Williams and Celia Colon talk about the years they spent as inmates at women's prisons in Illinois, their stories often turn to the times they would be disciplined for what seemed like small, even absurd things. Especially, it turns out, if you're a woman.
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ARTICLE: 'Prison is not where women need to be'
Chicago Tribune  ::  July 18, 2018   
​The number of women locked up in Illinois prisons could be cut in half under an ambitious proposal by reform advocates who argue that the corrections system has largely ignored the needs of female inmates.
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We need your help! We can sustain this ministry only if we have the support of people who care about our shared humanity with people in prison. Your contribution will help fund our quarter-time minister’s salary, benefits, and travel costs, plus the costs of our education offerings to congregations.

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 UUs 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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UU Prison Ministry of Illinois is a 501(c)3 organization, so your contributions are tax-deductible.