Over the last five years, communities across Illinois have built a statewide movement to end money bond and create a fairer pretrial justice system. These efforts, led by the Coalition to End Money Bond and the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice, are culminating in a push to pass the Pretrial Fairness Act (included in HB163 SA2), an omnibus criminal justice reform bill sponsored by Senator Elgie Sims and Representative Justin Slaughter that is expected to be voted on during the lame duck session of the Illinois legislature that begins today. The Pretrial Fairness Act would end money bond and replace it with a robust and transparent system for making pretrial release and detention decisions.

Every year more than 250,000 people are incarcerated in Illinois’ county jails. Ninety percent of these people are locked up pretrial and a majority of them are incarcerated only because they can’t afford to pay a money bond. Pretrial incarceration has caused countless people to lose their jobs, homes, and even custody of their children. It also increases the likelihood that a person will be sentenced to prison and serve a longer sentence due to the difficulty of participating in their legal defense while incarcerated.

“Illinois’ system of wealth-based incarceration is causing irreparable harm to our communities. People are losing jobs, housing and so much more, not because they’ve been found to be a danger to anyone’s safety but because of the size of their bank account. This system has prioritized access to wealth over public safety and it’s not just harming incarcerated people– it affects their entire communities,  who are forced to pool money together to free their loved ones,” said State Senator Robert Peters of the 13th District

In February of 2020, more than 250 people converged on Springfield for a lobby day in support of the legislation, but COVID-19 quickly brought the spring legislative session to a halt. Advocates continued to raise awareness of the issue throughout the summer and fall, culminating with a statewide day of action in September, which drew participation from communities across the state. In response to the ongoing community pressure, the Illinois Senate held a subject matter hearing on bond reform in October, for which more than 2,700 people filed witness slips in support of ending money bond. Since then, thousands have sent letters and made calls to legislators in support of the Pretrial Fairness Act.  A second virtual lobby day was held in November where hundreds of people met with their legislators to support the Pretrial Fairness Act as well.

Over the last five years, this movement has grown tremendously. In every corner of the state, people are demanding an end to money bond and calling to dramatically reduce the number of people incarcerated pretrial in Illinois. During the last few months, the pandemic has put on full display just how high the stakes are for people incarcerated in our county jails. Wealth-based incarceration is not only harming our communities, it’s putting lives at risk.

A diverse array of organizations have come out in support of the legislation, from racial justice activists to advocates against domestic violence and sexual assault. More than 100 activists, community, legal organizations and unions have endorsed the legislation which would have a dramatic effect on the state’s pretrial criminal legal system. In November, more than 200 faith leaders issued a public letter calling on the Illinois legislature to end money bond. 

This week, the Illinois legislature has the opportunity to lead the country in pretrial justice reform by passing the Pretrial Fairness Act. This historic legislation will create a fairer pretrial system for all Ilinoisans, make our communities safer, and save our state millions of dollars while dramatically reducing the number of people incarcerated pretrial. People across the state are looking to our legislators to take bold action in support of pretrial freedom, our communities are depending on it.