Latest News - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

On the Table 2019 Memo to the Mayor: Our Courts are Our Community

Thanks to our guests for an exciting On the Table conversation on May 15th, discussing our courts as part of our community. This year, On the Table hosts are producing a Memo to the Mayor and our guests particularly appreciate how a change in government can offer the best time to create a change in...

Sheriff Tom Dart is pushing a concerning bill through the Illinois legislature that would give unprecedented power to jail officials to lengthen an individual’s prison sentence due to discipline violations.

By Sarah Staudt, Senior Policy Analyst and Staff Attorney SB 416 allows jail officials to use their internal disciplinary boards to remove up to a year of pre-trial sentence credit for inmates who are found to have violated jail rules by committing “public indecency” or “assault or battery of a c...

HB 1115-The Mandatory Supervised Release Reentry Freedom Act Moves to the Illinois Senate

HB 1115-The Mandatory Supervised Release Reentry Freedom Act moved forward to passage last week by being approved by the state’s lower house by a vote of 62-47. This bill would eliminate the use of electronic monitoring for people who have completed their state prison sentences and are not required...

License to Work

Chicago Appleseed is a coalition member of License2Work Illinois, a group working to eliminate inequities in the judicial process by eliminating drivers licenses suspensions as a punishment for debt owed the city, such as court debt, administrative fees and unpaid fines. The License2Work coalition c...

Proposed Law Would Guarantee Prompt Access to a Phone – and a Lawyer – for Arrestees

By Sarah Staudt, Senior Policy Analyst at Chicago Appleseed and Staff Liaison to the Criminal Justice Advisory Committee of Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Council of Lawyers. One of the most timeworn media depictions of the criminal justice system is a character in a lock-up cell yel...