New Report on Pretrial Electronic Monitoring Launched in Chicago
by MediaJustice
Thanks to the wonderful support from our comrades at the Chicago Community Bond Fund, MediaJustice had a dynamic launch event for our new report, “No More Shackles: Ten Arguments Against Pretrial Electronic Monitoring” on October 30th at Grace Place in Chicago. We had a house full and, once again, directly impacted individuals like Lavette Mayes, Tim Williams, and “Danny” told their stories while we contemplated and strategized around how we can continue to fight e-carceration.
James Kilgore, fellow at MediaJustice, kicked off the event by outlining how the report was the result of years of research and activism to stop the spread of electronic monitoring, emphasizing that the ten arguments against pretrial EM outlined in the report were based on input from directly impacted people around the country. He noted that there was a reason why MediaJustice chose Chicago as the report launch city. “Chicago and the Bond Fund, in particular, has been at the cutting edge of resisting pretrial EM,’ he said, “helping to frame the resistance by lifting up the experience of directly impacted people.” Kilgore emphasized the case of Lavette Mayes, who spent nearly six months on a monitor pretrial in Cook County, as one that was particularly important to developing an understanding of how EM impacts families. “Lavette taught us that when you are on the monitor, every place you live in becomes a jail.” Mayes, who is now an advocate for the Bond Fund, was the emcee for the launch.
Robert Agnew, who traveled from Milwaukee to join the gathering, reminded the audience that release is not the same as “freedom” and what we must fight for is freedom. Emmanuel Andre, who chaired the panel of directly impacted individuals, stressed that the struggle against EM was part of the struggle for abolition. Sharlyn Grace, Executive Director of the Community Bond Fund, broke the news during the event that the sheriff’s department had stopped charging daily user fees to those released on pretrial EM. This action was seen as a result of the mobilization against pretrial EM led by the Bond Fund and the Challenging E-Carceration project.
It was an amazing evening, especially considering that so many people braved the horrid wind and rain to arrive and then stay for nearly an hour after the event was over to share reflections and build with one another. “We encourage folks to use the report as a guide to action,” Kilgore told the crowd, “and to tell us what is helpful and what is not. That is how we build a movement.”
Here are our ten arguments against pretrial electronic monitoring. Learn more about them by downloading our new No More Shackles report here.
This is part of a series titled #NoDigitalPrisons. Learn more about the issue here.
