Yesterday, the Coalition to End Money Bond was in Springfield for the Illinois House of Representatives Judiciary-Criminal Committee subject matter hearing on bond reform. Coalition members Sharone Mitchell (Illinois Justice Project) and Sharlyn Grace (Chicago Community Bond Fund) spoke as proponents of reform alongside Molly Galloway (Champaign County Bailout Coalition), Laurence Msall (Civic Federation), and Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx.

We testified in favor of two pieces of legislation supported by the Coalition. HB 3347, The Equal Justice for All Act, would substantially reduce the number of people incarcerated pretrial in Illinois and abolish the use of money bond in all forms. HB 2689, the Pretrial Data Act, mandates statewide collection and publication of basic information about bond decisions and the reasons why people are in county jails. Finally, Coalition members spoke about the importance of maintaining the protections created by the Bail Reform Act of 2017, most importantly the guarantee of court-appointed counsel at bond hearings. Our in-person testimony was supported by more than 1,000 witness slips in favor of reforming Illinois’ pretrial justice system—all filed in just the last six days!

Together, advocates for reform made clear that Illinois’ legislature must protect the steps that have already been taken to improve the fairness and equity of our pretrial justice system and also that they must not stop there. Across our state, more than a quarter of a million people are incarcerated every year in 92 county jails. A majority of these people are locked up while awaiting trial, meaning they haven’t been convicted of a crime and are presumed innocent. Most are incarcerated simply because they cannot afford to pay a money bond. This practice is unconstitutional and must be brought to an end.

Thank you for your support during yesterday’s hearing! You can read news coverage of the hearing here:

• Illinois Lawmakers to Hear About Bail Reform
• Illinois Lawmakers Consider Eliminating Cash Bail