We finally got word from another one of our comrades who’s currently incarcerated in Illinois right now.
On 3/21 Lorena (pseudonym) wrote us:
“So I am here on an immigration warrant, I was at work release and tried to fix my green card and it put a red flag out and got me a warrant.. My mom has a lawyer working on it right now..but it might take forever.. I heard Chicago is a sanctuary city or something, could you check? I’m in a drug treatment program so I’ll be out in October.. This place is so crazy.. I wish I could’ve gone back to Decatur… We are on full lockdown right now. We can’t do anything .. As for commissary, money is a lil tight…”
Our comrades working with Hacking//Hustling were able to send funds immediately to Lorena for when commissary is reestablished and she can shop again.
On 3/24: “Thank you for the funds!!! Yes, please share everything.. I want to help when I’m out by advocating for women behind bars because they [the prison staff at Logan] treat us very badly!!! I’m so stressed about getting deported but it’s something that’s out of my control.. We still get fed and get showers..but shopping [commissary] is on hold and phones are so crazy to get on without arguing..everyone is going crazy..”
We waited to share until we got express consent to give folx updates. At Lorena’s request we also forwarded the details she sent us to Uptown People’s Law Center via their survey!
Alisha and Lorena are very close and incredibly worried about each other. Prison policy expressly forbids correspondence between incarcerated folx (with very few exceptions–LeLe was denied writing a cousin because he wasn’t deemed “close enough kin.”)
We’ll continue posting updates and messages from our comrades inside, since JB Pritzker has refused to do the right thing and #freethemall4publichealth to voice their needs directly.
Do you know someone inside an IL prison, jail or detention facility? Fill this out ASAP: https://www.uplcchicago.org/what-we-do/prison/il-prison-covid-response.html