On January 1, 2022, portions of the Pretrial Fairness Act will go into effect and expand the rights of people incarcerated in their homes on electronic monitoring (EM). Beginning next year, people on electronic monitoring will be guaranteed movement to perform essential tasks and receive regular reviews to determine whether they must remain on EM and/or house arrest. Additionally, felony “escape” charges, which land hundreds of people in jail every year for minor rule violations, will only be allowed to be filed if someone has been in violation for at least 48 hours. (Learn more about the specific changes in this fact sheet). 

In the last year, Cook County has seen a dramatic increase in the number of people incarcerated in their homes on EM. There are currently over 3,500 people incarcerated in their homes across Cook County; that’s 1,300 more than at this time two years ago. The Pretrial Fairness Act’s changes to EM will greatly reduce the harm caused by its severe restrictions on freedom and create an opportunity to dramatically reduce the number of people subjected to EM while we work to eradicate its use entirely. 

Electronic monitoring makes our communities less safe by destabilizing the lives of people subjected to this form of pretrial punishment. The restrictions people on electronic monitoring currently face make it nearly impossible for them to do the things they need to survive. People on EM face extreme hurdles to simply go grocery shopping, access medical or mental health care, attend job interviews, go to school, or to do the most basic tasks to take care of their families.

Lavette Mayes, a single mother of two, spent several months incarcerated in her home on electronic monitoring. In an article written for Truthout, she explained the ways in which these conditions impacted her entire family: 

When you incarcerate a mom, you incarcerate the whole family. It’s not just you, it’s your kids, too. They’re in jail as well with me being on electronic monitoring. When it was nice outside, I couldn’t go out with them or sit outside and watch the fireworks. I was unable to do normal things families do, like go to the park, barbecue, or visit my mother’s grave. Many of the things we’d normally do as a family just couldn’t be done anymore.

Many of the most significant harms experienced by people incarcerated inside brick and mortar jails are replicated by home incarceration. It is essential that we protect these expanded rights granted to people on electronic monitoring under the Pretrial Fairness Act while we work to eliminate this punitive technology altogether. EM is a false alternative to granting people the true pretrial freedom they deserve. Ultimately, supporting people in well-resourced and thriving communities is what will create safety for everyone. 

Join us for “Pushing Back Against Home Confinement: New Electronic Monitoring Reforms Under the Pretrial Fairness” on December 8th at 6pm, register here.

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 ¹Please note that the effective dates of some of these provisions are different from what was passed in January. In negotiations with state legislators in May, all of the EM provisions we passed in January were given the same effective date, whereas originally some took effect at different times. The Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice and our allies made sure that the new effective date is January 1, 2022—instead of January 1, 2023, as some of our opponents wanted. A January 1, 2022 effective date means that some of the provisions we passed were pushed back by six months, but others were moved up by an entire year.