Gail T. Smith
@gail-cbip.bsky.social
Director, Children's Best Interest Project
Founding E.D., Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers
Member, Love & Protect, abolitionist, Unitarian Universalist.
#CeaseFireNow #WearAMask #FreeThemAll
Founding E.D., Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers
Member, Love & Protect, abolitionist, Unitarian Universalist.
#CeaseFireNow #WearAMask #FreeThemAll
Beyond infuriating.
It's a good day to reflect on the fact that it might not ~only~ be the indigenous people born between the external legal boundaries of the USA est 1776 who have stronger claim to residency than do the white nationalists brutally enforcing those external borders that weren't set by indigenous people
ICE DETAINED MARILYN. Fuck these people. www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
November 27, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Beyond infuriating.
Our safety would be better served by funding vital community anti-violence programs cut by the feds, not jail and prosecutors. Those EM officers being moved into jail CO positions? Tracks with SA Burke's plan to lock up more people pre-trial, whether fair or not. SMH. Hate to see this regression.
new: i read the 2026 cook county budget so you don't have to.
spoiler: more money for police and prosecutors (plus a lot of other stuff).
spoiler: more money for police and prosecutors (plus a lot of other stuff).
Cook County law enforcement agencies get more money in 2026
The Cook County Board of Commissioners approved large investments in policing and prosecutions, over objections from advocates.
chicagoreader.com
November 26, 2025 at 1:37 AM
Our safety would be better served by funding vital community anti-violence programs cut by the feds, not jail and prosecutors. Those EM officers being moved into jail CO positions? Tracks with SA Burke's plan to lock up more people pre-trial, whether fair or not. SMH. Hate to see this regression.
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
I am absolutely seeing this in real time. I get at least 3 emails a day from people I know and people I don't asking me if I have leads on work. I usually have to say I do not. The job market is NOT GOOD right now at all.
November 25, 2025 at 10:20 PM
I am absolutely seeing this in real time. I get at least 3 emails a day from people I know and people I don't asking me if I have leads on work. I usually have to say I do not. The job market is NOT GOOD right now at all.
Learn about the expanded State's Attorney's Felony Bypass program to all of Chicago. Police can now file felony gun possession charges without prosecutorial review, inviting unjustified or unconstitutional arrests to proceed further before being reviewed by a lawyer. Come hear what we can do.
November 26, 2025 at 12:00 AM
Learn about the expanded State's Attorney's Felony Bypass program to all of Chicago. Police can now file felony gun possession charges without prosecutorial review, inviting unjustified or unconstitutional arrests to proceed further before being reviewed by a lawyer. Come hear what we can do.
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
"My mentor always tells me, 'Kim, dogs don’t bark at parked cars." They’re coming after critical race theory, 1619, intersectionality because these ideas mobilized people. They gave them the language to actually articulate what they were seeing with their own eyes," says Kimberlé Crenshaw.
November 25, 2025 at 1:26 PM
"My mentor always tells me, 'Kim, dogs don’t bark at parked cars." They’re coming after critical race theory, 1619, intersectionality because these ideas mobilized people. They gave them the language to actually articulate what they were seeing with their own eyes," says Kimberlé Crenshaw.
Brilliant and disturbing. If foundations and people with significant resources don't support progressive media, we will lose it entirely.
On November 3, Condé Nast announced that it was folding Teen Vogue into Vogue, thus laying off most of Teen Vogue’s staff. Most devastatingly, the layoffs primarily affected their Black, brown, trans and queer workers and the publication’s entire political desk.
The Right Funds Its Media. Can Progressive Philanthropy Meet the Moment?
Rigorous, principled, independent journalism is an essential part of movement building.
truthout.org
November 20, 2025 at 10:25 PM
Brilliant and disturbing. If foundations and people with significant resources don't support progressive media, we will lose it entirely.
So grateful for Alder Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez's courage & dedication to her constituents. If warning people about to be taken to a detention center with deadly conditions is "obstruction" - certainly not of justice - we are all at risk.
Help Dayanne Figueroa if you can.
blockclubchi.co/4ozWzin
Help Dayanne Figueroa if you can.
blockclubchi.co/4ozWzin
ICE Tells North Side Alderperson To Back Off As She Warns Neighbors About Immigration Agents
Masked agents approached Ald. Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez and her chief of staff in an alley, where they were told they were impeding ICE activities and being issued a warning.
blockclubchi.co
October 21, 2025 at 10:10 PM
So grateful for Alder Rossana Rodriguez-Sanchez's courage & dedication to her constituents. If warning people about to be taken to a detention center with deadly conditions is "obstruction" - certainly not of justice - we are all at risk.
Help Dayanne Figueroa if you can.
blockclubchi.co/4ozWzin
Help Dayanne Figueroa if you can.
blockclubchi.co/4ozWzin
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
During Thanksgiving and holidays, people want to do food drives where they collect canned goods etc... and I really would love to offer that food banks need MONEY so if you can collect and donate MONEY please do that. They can then use those funds to purchase what's needed AT DISCOUNTS.
October 19, 2025 at 9:39 PM
During Thanksgiving and holidays, people want to do food drives where they collect canned goods etc... and I really would love to offer that food banks need MONEY so if you can collect and donate MONEY please do that. They can then use those funds to purchase what's needed AT DISCOUNTS.
Great article on the work being done to support pregnant people in custody, including a bill that would require deferred sentencing to keep moms and babies together. Congrats and gratitude to Pamela Winn of RestoreHER US.
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
The Activists Fighting for Dignity for Incarcerated Pregnant Women
Prison doulas and legislative interventions can be a lifeline for incarcerated pregnant women. But the most important solution is to abolish prison births altogether.
www.thenation.com
October 19, 2025 at 3:15 AM
Great article on the work being done to support pregnant people in custody, including a bill that would require deferred sentencing to keep moms and babies together. Congrats and gratitude to Pamela Winn of RestoreHER US.
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
www.thenation.com/article/soci...
Chicago-area friends, let's support the things that have helped support communities and prevent crime. In the face of federal defunding of proven strategies, Cook County needs to invest in health and prevention.
More than 60 organizations have joined us to call on Cook County to protect funding for essential services like violence prevention, behavioral health, and community investment to reduce intra-community violence by freezing law enforcement spending.
Read more: endmoneybond.org/2025/10/09/6...
Read more: endmoneybond.org/2025/10/09/6...
60+ Organizations Call on Cook County to Freeze Law Enforcement Spending to Protect Social Services - Coalition to End Money Bond
More than 60 community, faith, policy, and service-providing organizations have joined the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice to call on the Cook County Board of Commissioners to take action in res...
endmoneybond.org
October 9, 2025 at 4:53 PM
Chicago-area friends, let's support the things that have helped support communities and prevent crime. In the face of federal defunding of proven strategies, Cook County needs to invest in health and prevention.
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
The one time I met Paul Vallas was at a conference and after a very brief conversation he showed me a plan for a "reform school" project he was pitching.
The man was carrying plans for a jail for children on his person and just...showing it to people.
That guy came really close to being mayor.
The man was carrying plans for a jail for children on his person and just...showing it to people.
That guy came really close to being mayor.
Actually, it really matters whether your electeds are progressive. We are often frustrated on the left at what electeds can deliver, but we have to remember moments like this. Paul Vallas would NOT have created ICE free zones.
HAPPENING NOW — This morning, Mayor Brandon Johnson signed an executive order establishing “ICE-free zones.”
“That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as grounds for these raids,” Johnson said to applause.
thetriibe.com/2025/10/mayo...
“That means that city property and unwilling private businesses will no longer serve as grounds for these raids,” Johnson said to applause.
thetriibe.com/2025/10/mayo...
October 7, 2025 at 4:42 PM
The one time I met Paul Vallas was at a conference and after a very brief conversation he showed me a plan for a "reform school" project he was pitching.
The man was carrying plans for a jail for children on his person and just...showing it to people.
That guy came really close to being mayor.
The man was carrying plans for a jail for children on his person and just...showing it to people.
That guy came really close to being mayor.
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
This is important.
Urgent: Help free Wagner, a beloved community member + asylum seeker, detained by plain-clothed ICE agents outside his Manhattan hearing on 10/6. Despite his lawyer’s objections + his family’s cries, he’s now held at Delaney Hall.
1/
1/
October 9, 2025 at 12:10 AM
This is important.
Illinois' lawsuit against the deployment of the National Guard. Includes a downloadable PDF of the full complaint.
The state of Illinois is suing Trump to stop him from sending hundreds of National Guardsmen to Chicago. blockclubchi.co/4gTVTl8
October 6, 2025 at 5:27 PM
Illinois' lawsuit against the deployment of the National Guard. Includes a downloadable PDF of the full complaint.
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
Qs journalists can pose to any official with exec power (gov, state police dir, AG, county state's atty, sheriff, mayor, city police chief):
-What have you done to investigate potential state law violations by the federal govt
-Whose job is it to follow up + when did you last discuss it w/ them
-What have you done to investigate potential state law violations by the federal govt
-Whose job is it to follow up + when did you last discuss it w/ them
October 4, 2025 at 10:35 PM
Qs journalists can pose to any official with exec power (gov, state police dir, AG, county state's atty, sheriff, mayor, city police chief):
-What have you done to investigate potential state law violations by the federal govt
-Whose job is it to follow up + when did you last discuss it w/ them
-What have you done to investigate potential state law violations by the federal govt
-Whose job is it to follow up + when did you last discuss it w/ them
Huge proportion of food aid has been canceled, as we are seeing more need than we have since the Great Depression. Informative report with compelling illustration. Do you know what happens to people, especially kids, who don't get enough protein?
projects.propublica.org/trump-food-c...
projects.propublica.org/trump-food-c...
Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived.
ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cut...
projects.propublica.org
October 4, 2025 at 5:18 PM
Huge proportion of food aid has been canceled, as we are seeing more need than we have since the Great Depression. Informative report with compelling illustration. Do you know what happens to people, especially kids, who don't get enough protein?
projects.propublica.org/trump-food-c...
projects.propublica.org/trump-food-c...
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
Been thinking a lot about how things keep escalating, and rather quickly.
From the beginning, Trump has followed a pattern of doing something outlandish to test the response. If the response is sufficiently negative, he pulls back. If he sees he’s given an inch, he’ll take a mile. Repeat.
From the beginning, Trump has followed a pattern of doing something outlandish to test the response. If the response is sufficiently negative, he pulls back. If he sees he’s given an inch, he’ll take a mile. Repeat.
"The spokesperson declined to say whether agents had warrants to forcibly enter homes, saying that because Tren de Aragua has been labeled a terrorist organization "there are sensitivities on what we can provide without putting people at risk."
This BS is why ELECTED OFFICIALS must demand answers
This BS is why ELECTED OFFICIALS must demand answers
US Border Patrol raid sweeps in citizens, families as Chicago crackdown intensifies, w/ @reneehickman.bsky.social @kristinacooke.bsky.social www.reuters.com/world/us/us-...
October 4, 2025 at 5:02 PM
Been thinking a lot about how things keep escalating, and rather quickly.
From the beginning, Trump has followed a pattern of doing something outlandish to test the response. If the response is sufficiently negative, he pulls back. If he sees he’s given an inch, he’ll take a mile. Repeat.
From the beginning, Trump has followed a pattern of doing something outlandish to test the response. If the response is sufficiently negative, he pulls back. If he sees he’s given an inch, he’ll take a mile. Repeat.
Cook County leads the nation in wrongful convictions. Eileen O'Neill Burke's Convictions Integrity Unit now has no lawyers with criminal defense expertise. She tightened rules to exclude more people from raising innocence claims. The unit has not exonerated anyone in a year.
Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke has allowed her office’s Conviction Integrity Unit to shrink. It’s now half its former size — with just three attorneys to investigate innocence claims. Copublished with
@boltsmag.org: www.injusticewatch.org/project/deny...
@boltsmag.org: www.injusticewatch.org/project/deny...
Cook County’s new prosecutor has weakened an already broken system for freeing the innocent
State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s Conviction Integrity Unit hasn’t exonerated anyone in her 10 months on the job, and she has done little to confront more than a dozen coercion allegations again...
www.injusticewatch.org
October 3, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Cook County leads the nation in wrongful convictions. Eileen O'Neill Burke's Convictions Integrity Unit now has no lawyers with criminal defense expertise. She tightened rules to exclude more people from raising innocence claims. The unit has not exonerated anyone in a year.
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
My husband was detained by ICE today
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
October 3, 2025 at 5:12 PM
My husband was detained by ICE today
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
Juan Muñoz, an American citizen, father of 2, and local government official, was peacefully protesting w. other elected officials. He was assaulted and taken away
I have had zero contact or updates since
#SOS
@duckworth.senate.gov @durbin.senate.gov
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
And before you come at me let me be crystal clear I say this not out of any desire to police shame or schoolmarm anyone or out of any faith whatsoever in “the law” or our “rights” but to try to help keep people I love (even if I don’t know you) on this side of the walls and bars to *keep* resisting
October 3, 2025 at 5:48 PM
And before you come at me let me be crystal clear I say this not out of any desire to police shame or schoolmarm anyone or out of any faith whatsoever in “the law” or our “rights” but to try to help keep people I love (even if I don’t know you) on this side of the walls and bars to *keep* resisting
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
If you speak spontaneously before during or after they do or don’t read you your rights - whether in direct response to an LE question or, just in front of them, say to someone filming you, they can use what you say against you.
So, in short, once in police custody it is in your interests to STFU.
So, in short, once in police custody it is in your interests to STFU.
October 3, 2025 at 5:17 PM
If you speak spontaneously before during or after they do or don’t read you your rights - whether in direct response to an LE question or, just in front of them, say to someone filming you, they can use what you say against you.
So, in short, once in police custody it is in your interests to STFU.
So, in short, once in police custody it is in your interests to STFU.
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
It’s your friendly neighborhood lawyer again with a Friday (fr this time) fun fact:
Law enforcement *don’t* have to read Miranda rights when they arrest you (that’s a law & order TV myth) - only *before* they question you *after* detaining you. Then you *have* to say you are asserting them & STFU
Law enforcement *don’t* have to read Miranda rights when they arrest you (that’s a law & order TV myth) - only *before* they question you *after* detaining you. Then you *have* to say you are asserting them & STFU
October 3, 2025 at 5:15 PM
It’s your friendly neighborhood lawyer again with a Friday (fr this time) fun fact:
Law enforcement *don’t* have to read Miranda rights when they arrest you (that’s a law & order TV myth) - only *before* they question you *after* detaining you. Then you *have* to say you are asserting them & STFU
Law enforcement *don’t* have to read Miranda rights when they arrest you (that’s a law & order TV myth) - only *before* they question you *after* detaining you. Then you *have* to say you are asserting them & STFU
Congrats to Starling Thomas, a winner of the 2025 Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize. "We were mothers ripped from our children, daughters robbed of our dignity...And yet, even in the belly of the beast, we refused to be broken. We sang, we prayed, we dreamed of freedom."
Prison is more than a desolate place; it’s a sentence passed down through generations, a curse disguised as justice. My mother’s story was the prologue to my own, and I saw her reflection in every woman I met behind bars.
Mama, They Got Me Too: My Family Has Survived Incarceration Over Generations
The system has a way of reaching through generations, branding us as criminals when all we’re trying to do is survive.
truthout.org
October 3, 2025 at 2:40 PM
Congrats to Starling Thomas, a winner of the 2025 Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize. "We were mothers ripped from our children, daughters robbed of our dignity...And yet, even in the belly of the beast, we refused to be broken. We sang, we prayed, we dreamed of freedom."
Congrats to E.M.--This essay is a winner of Truthout’s 2025 Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize, awarded to formerly or currently incarcerated people for essays related to imprisonment or policing.
“My family and I immigrated to this country from Bosnia after we escaped the genocide. We were chasing the “American dream,” which, for me, had included my gender transition at 24 years old. I never believed that in 2025 being trans would constitute a death penalty.”
As a Trans Person in Federal Prison, I’m Being Punished for Existing
If the Trump administration forces me to transfer to a men’s prison, I question whether I will make it out alive.
buff.ly
October 3, 2025 at 2:31 PM
Congrats to E.M.--This essay is a winner of Truthout’s 2025 Keeley Schenwar Memorial Essay Prize, awarded to formerly or currently incarcerated people for essays related to imprisonment or policing.
Reposted by Gail T. Smith
In late September the Trump administration abruptly announced that it was ending hunger surveys, after strong-arming Congress into passing a budget that eviscerates spending on food stamps by more than $180 billion — a cut which would put the food benefits of roughly 5 million people at risk.
Did Trump End National Hunger Survey to Hide Growing Hunger Under His Policies?
Over 47 million Americans are already food insecure, and that number is expected to increase thanks to Trump’s budget.
truthout.org
October 2, 2025 at 3:39 PM
In late September the Trump administration abruptly announced that it was ending hunger surveys, after strong-arming Congress into passing a budget that eviscerates spending on food stamps by more than $180 billion — a cut which would put the food benefits of roughly 5 million people at risk.