On April 10, 2019, the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Pretrial Practices announced it will be hosting public hearings on pretrial justice and accepting written comments through June 30th of this year. This is a direct result of the Coalition to End Money Bond and our allies’ demands for a process for public input into this important conversation. Over the last several months, we collected nearly 1,000 signatures in support of a public hearing and sent in hundreds of postcards from individual supporters calling on the commission to hear the voices of impacted communities.

In December 2017, the Illinois Supreme Court established the Commission on Pretrial Practices to review our unjust, wealth-based bond system. In December 2019, the commission will release a report with official findings and recommendations for improvement. Until now, the Commission’s process has taken place behind closed doors and inaccessible to community members and advocates. Because it is convened by the judiciary, its process is subject to neither Freedom of Information Act requests nor the Public Meetings Act in Illinois.

Now that we have won forums for community members to contribute to this important set of recommendations for bond reform, we must make sure the commission hears us loud and clear. Join us as we testify

The currently scheduled hearings are:

• Springfield: Monday, April 22, 2019, 12-1:30pm at the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts, 3101 Old Jacksonville Road, Springfield, IL 62704;
• Urbana: Monday, May 6, 2019, 11:30am-1pm at the Illinois Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board Training Center, 1701 E. Main Street, Urbana, IL 61802; and
• Chicago: Monday, June 17, 2019, 12-1:30pm at the Michael A. Bilandic Building, 5th Floor, Room C-500, 160 N. LaSalle Street, Chicago, IL 60601.
• Freeport: Monday, June 24, 2019: 5-6:30pm at the Freeport Public Library, 100. E. Douglas Street, Freeport, IL 61032 (announced May 30, 2019).

Written public comment on pretrial reforms can also be submitted by June 30, 2019 by email to pretrialhearings@illinoiscourts.gov or by mail to Pretrial Comments, AOIC Probation Division, 3101 Old Jacksonville Road, Springfield, IL 62704.

Stay tuned for updates on how you can join the Coalition to End Money Bond and the Illinois Network on Pretrial Justice in calling for transformative bond reform that restores the presumption of innocence for all accused people and eliminates the vast racial and socio-economic disparities that currently define our criminal justice system. Most importantly, we are working to ensure that any proposed reform will greatly reducing the number of people jailed in Illinois. Join us!