Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice
@ilarj.org
We are currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, nonprofits, legal professionals, and allies collectively accelerating the transformative realignment of power and accountability to reimagine and remake justice. www.ilarj.org
Sadie Hawkins Day is about smashing gender norms and breaking through to those you love. Millions of people — and thousands of our members — are separated from their loved ones and community due to mass incarceration. Visit our website to see how we are speaking out. #sadiehawkins #incarceration
November 13, 2025 at 6:51 PM
Sadie Hawkins Day is about smashing gender norms and breaking through to those you love. Millions of people — and thousands of our members — are separated from their loved ones and community due to mass incarceration. Visit our website to see how we are speaking out. #sadiehawkins #incarceration
Many thanks to MK Pritzker and IDOC Director Latoya Hughes for meeting the call to do the right thing and help our community members stay connected.
November 7, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Many thanks to MK Pritzker and IDOC Director Latoya Hughes for meeting the call to do the right thing and help our community members stay connected.
ILARJ was represented during the FCC's Open Meeting this week. The booing and hissing of the FCC's decision from our section of the audience was widely reported on by media outlets. Nobody should ever be separated from their loved ones.
October 30, 2025 at 7:05 PM
ILARJ was represented during the FCC's Open Meeting this week. The booing and hissing of the FCC's decision from our section of the audience was widely reported on by media outlets. Nobody should ever be separated from their loved ones.
Children with incarcerated parents are especially vulnerable, and need as much support as possible. ILARJ is creating healthier lives for all members of our Beloved Community, including fighting to prevent incarceration and to ensure people in prison can connect and grow with their children.
October 24, 2025 at 6:56 PM
Children with incarcerated parents are especially vulnerable, and need as much support as possible. ILARJ is creating healthier lives for all members of our Beloved Community, including fighting to prevent incarceration and to ensure people in prison can connect and grow with their children.
ILARJ is proud to have been at this event with Chicago Foundation for Women and Cicero Independiente. We shared our experience as an organization that serves as the network facilitator dedicated to dreaming and remaking justice into systems of care and accountability that serve everyone’s needs.
October 23, 2025 at 6:29 PM
ILARJ is proud to have been at this event with Chicago Foundation for Women and Cicero Independiente. We shared our experience as an organization that serves as the network facilitator dedicated to dreaming and remaking justice into systems of care and accountability that serve everyone’s needs.
ILARJ runs the largest, paid, directly-impacted led courtwatching program in the US. Our Courtwatchers are seven trained professionals making observations in Cook County criminal courts on pen and paper.
We are proud to serve our community and people. Thank you for making this work possible.
We are proud to serve our community and people. Thank you for making this work possible.
October 16, 2025 at 7:15 PM
ILARJ runs the largest, paid, directly-impacted led courtwatching program in the US. Our Courtwatchers are seven trained professionals making observations in Cook County criminal courts on pen and paper.
We are proud to serve our community and people. Thank you for making this work possible.
We are proud to serve our community and people. Thank you for making this work possible.
ILARJ honors the Black Panther Party’s legacy and commitment to community health and safety every day. We firmly believe that only through community care and accountability coupled with agency over our social determinants of health can we truly be free.
October 15, 2025 at 9:38 PM
ILARJ honors the Black Panther Party’s legacy and commitment to community health and safety every day. We firmly believe that only through community care and accountability coupled with agency over our social determinants of health can we truly be free.
We remind all members of our community to protect themselves and their families as much as possible. Persons who are arrested at protests are usually persons who have considered these risks and more. It is almost always better to protect yourself so you may continue to speak out freely.
October 10, 2025 at 9:31 PM
We remind all members of our community to protect themselves and their families as much as possible. Persons who are arrested at protests are usually persons who have considered these risks and more. It is almost always better to protect yourself so you may continue to speak out freely.
Care and accountability that improves our social determinants of health must be the goal — not punishment. #abolition
October 3, 2025 at 5:47 PM
Care and accountability that improves our social determinants of health must be the goal — not punishment. #abolition
National Recovery Month is a time to recognize the challenges that people struggling with their social determinants of health, like substance use disorder, face. Incarceration often comes to the detriment of health — healing and transformation must be the end goal for all persons.
September 30, 2025 at 6:24 PM
National Recovery Month is a time to recognize the challenges that people struggling with their social determinants of health, like substance use disorder, face. Incarceration often comes to the detriment of health — healing and transformation must be the end goal for all persons.
Assata lived a life fighting for Black communities and demanding true justice for all of us. Despite her exile, her presence has transformed many of our community members into leading positive lives fueled by radical imagination.
September 26, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Assata lived a life fighting for Black communities and demanding true justice for all of us. Despite her exile, her presence has transformed many of our community members into leading positive lives fueled by radical imagination.
Assata lived a life fighting for Black communities and demanding true justice for all of us. Despite her exile, her presence has transformed many of our community members into leading positive lives fueled by radical imagination.
September 26, 2025 at 6:24 PM
Assata lived a life fighting for Black communities and demanding true justice for all of us. Despite her exile, her presence has transformed many of our community members into leading positive lives fueled by radical imagination.
Seventy years ago today, the trial for the persons who killed Emmet Till began. During the trial, the all-white, all-male jury were influenced by racially-driven narratives. This case, and a race-focused acquittal, exposed to the nation how the courtroom consistently serves as a tool of oppression.
September 19, 2025 at 6:01 PM
Seventy years ago today, the trial for the persons who killed Emmet Till began. During the trial, the all-white, all-male jury were influenced by racially-driven narratives. This case, and a race-focused acquittal, exposed to the nation how the courtroom consistently serves as a tool of oppression.
National Voter Registration Day is a celebration of civic engagement that drives our democracy forward. But, when we leave people behind, this celebration is undercut. Everyone should be able to vote. Experience with the criminal legal system should never impact our basic rights as citizens.
September 16, 2025 at 5:44 PM
National Voter Registration Day is a celebration of civic engagement that drives our democracy forward. But, when we leave people behind, this celebration is undercut. Everyone should be able to vote. Experience with the criminal legal system should never impact our basic rights as citizens.
Chicagoans: Know your rights! This community-led training hosted by local organizations is a great opportunity to connect and learn about how to effectively protect yourself when confronted by law enforcement.
September 12, 2025 at 6:23 PM
Chicagoans: Know your rights! This community-led training hosted by local organizations is a great opportunity to connect and learn about how to effectively protect yourself when confronted by law enforcement.
When negative social determinants of health are ignored like they were in Attica, people become unhealthy, unhappy, and unrelenting until that changes. (1/4)
September 9, 2025 at 5:51 PM
When negative social determinants of health are ignored like they were in Attica, people become unhealthy, unhappy, and unrelenting until that changes. (1/4)
George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and John Clutchette taught us the meaning of resistance behind the walls. Black August is a time of remembrance, organizing, and change.
ILARJ strives every day to live up to the legacy of the many other organizers we have lost to our oppressive carceral system.
ILARJ strives every day to live up to the legacy of the many other organizers we have lost to our oppressive carceral system.
August 29, 2025 at 5:58 PM
George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and John Clutchette taught us the meaning of resistance behind the walls. Black August is a time of remembrance, organizing, and change.
ILARJ strives every day to live up to the legacy of the many other organizers we have lost to our oppressive carceral system.
ILARJ strives every day to live up to the legacy of the many other organizers we have lost to our oppressive carceral system.
The right to vote is a universal good that is necessary for a free society. As of today, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified only 106 years ago, securing women's right to vote.
August 26, 2025 at 5:54 PM
The right to vote is a universal good that is necessary for a free society. As of today, the Nineteenth Amendment was ratified only 106 years ago, securing women's right to vote.
New systems of care and accountability that work for everyone must include teaching the underlying values that make these systems possible.
August 22, 2025 at 3:22 PM
New systems of care and accountability that work for everyone must include teaching the underlying values that make these systems possible.
We are thrilled to announce that we now have 1,000 community partners. These advocates and directly-impacted people support us with their immense talent and wisdom.
Our motto, “By Community, For Community, In Community,” would not exist without the partners that make this work possible.
Our motto, “By Community, For Community, In Community,” would not exist without the partners that make this work possible.
August 12, 2025 at 6:54 PM
We are thrilled to announce that we now have 1,000 community partners. These advocates and directly-impacted people support us with their immense talent and wisdom.
Our motto, “By Community, For Community, In Community,” would not exist without the partners that make this work possible.
Our motto, “By Community, For Community, In Community,” would not exist without the partners that make this work possible.
.ILARJ and our Courtwatching Team are proud to serve our community and people. Thank you for making the work we do possible.
August 8, 2025 at 4:19 PM
.ILARJ and our Courtwatching Team are proud to serve our community and people. Thank you for making the work we do possible.
Our Courtwatching Team members sit in court and take notes by hand to gather critical data. They are paid, trained professionals with direct experience or lived experience with our criminal legal system.
August 8, 2025 at 4:19 PM
Our Courtwatching Team members sit in court and take notes by hand to gather critical data. They are paid, trained professionals with direct experience or lived experience with our criminal legal system.
While there are 13 courthouses in Cook County, IL (home to Chicago, for those not from here!), our team focuses on the 3 courthouses that have the highest volume of criminal cases, including both felony prosecutions and misdemeanors.
August 8, 2025 at 4:18 PM
While there are 13 courthouses in Cook County, IL (home to Chicago, for those not from here!), our team focuses on the 3 courthouses that have the highest volume of criminal cases, including both felony prosecutions and misdemeanors.
ILARJ is operating the largest directly-impacted led courtwatching program in the US. We have seven fulltime, professional courtwatching team members.
August 8, 2025 at 4:17 PM
ILARJ is operating the largest directly-impacted led courtwatching program in the US. We have seven fulltime, professional courtwatching team members.
Sixty years after the VRA, 4M people are still barred from our democracy based on a conviction. ILARJ is committed to restoring the vote to all Americans regardless of conviction and embracing new models of participatory democracy that place decisions about our community directly in our own hands.
August 6, 2025 at 5:06 PM
Sixty years after the VRA, 4M people are still barred from our democracy based on a conviction. ILARJ is committed to restoring the vote to all Americans regardless of conviction and embracing new models of participatory democracy that place decisions about our community directly in our own hands.