Illinois Prison Project

We’re proud to share Illinois Prison Project’s Fiscal Year 2025 Annual Report, highlighting a year of powerful advocacy, life-changing releases, and continued progress toward ending extreme sentences and mass incarceration. Read the full report here: ow.ly/5Szl50XjeJ6

IPP seeks feedback on a new multi-year plan to 1) assess ALL women serving long sentences in IL & 2) provide representation to those selected. Formerly incarcerated women & loved ones encouraged to attend! Lunch provided. 🗓 4/17, 10am-2pm 📍UIC 🌐 RSVP: forms.gle/xxh664LLozD8v6…

This week, IPP's formerly incarcerated Ambassadors gathered for an advocacy training hosted by our friends @chitorture , an organization providing trauma-informed resources & politicized healing support to survivors of police violence and institutionalized racism. Thanks, CTJC!

⏰ This coming SATURDAY is our next free online legal clinic for loved ones of people incarcerated in Illinois, where you can ask our legal team questions about pathways out of prison and other resources. You are NOT alone! Register at ow.ly/5r7K50YnNCk

🗳️ It's primary election day in IL - but thousands of incarcerated & system-impacted people don't have the right to vote. ⛔ Is this democracy? Let's talk about it! 🗽Democracy on Both Sides of the Wall 🗓 Thursday, 5/7 🌐 Nat'l Public Housing Museum 🔗 …inoisprisonproject.networkforgood.com/events/98793-d…

Trying to navigate IDOC or Prisoner Review Board? You're not alone! On WEDNESDAY, find IPP Community Navigators at Harold Washington Library 7th Floor w/ resources for your incarcerated loved one. 🗓 March 18 (+April 1 & April 15) 🕙 10am-12pm 👋 No registration required!

We're so excited to join our friends at the Prison and Neighborhood Arts/Education Project to educate the community about the Joe Coleman Medical Release process. Join us! givebutter.com/PNAPWorkshop03…

IPP is a proud member of the Credit for Change Coalition, fighting to give incarcerated people a chance to earn time off their sentences and return home as productive members of their communities. Learn more about our campaign in the Chicago Reporter: chicagoreporter.com/advocates-push…

⏰ Applications due Thursday! IPP seeks a dynamic, energetic Summer 2026 Legal Support Intern to provide programmatic & administrative support to help reduce mass incarceration; ideal for college Juniors/Seniors interested in social work, law, advocacy. illinoisprisonproject.org/join-us

This isn't by accident -- it's a direct result of policies that criminalize poverty, mental illness, and substance use; punish abuse survivors; and require excessive mandatory sentences with no pathway out. And it's a system that CAN and MUST be changed (3/3) #IWD26

Nearly all system-impacted women have survived domestic or gender-based violence, and the majority are also mothers and caregivers. Incarceration shatters families and communities. (2/3)

On International Women's Day, remember that women - especially Black & Indigenous women - are the fastest growing group incarcerated in the U.S. Since 1980, the # of incarcerated women increased by 600%. We now incarcerate more women than even China, Russia & Brazil. (1/3)

When people are freed from incarceration, they need basic necessities like coats, shoes & toiletries. Help them come home by contributing to IPP's Re-Entry Wishlist on Amazon. Each purchase goes directly to someone impacted by incarceration amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls…?

Are you trying to navigate IDOC or Prisoner Review Board? You're not alone! IPP Community Navigators are here to provide the resources you need - Find us on Wednesday, March 4 at Harold Washington Library (7th Floor), 10am- 12noon, and again on March 18, April 1, and April 15.

⏰ This coming TUESDAY is our next free online legal clinic for loved ones of people incarcerated in Illinois, where you can ask our legal team questions about pathways out of prison and other resources. You are NOT alone! Register at ow.ly/5r7K50YnNCk

This week our education team mailed 235 resource kits 💪🏾 to incarcerated people and their loved ones, with info about pathways out of prison, re-entry, filing grievances, and more.📩 You can access all our resources online at illinoisprisonproject.org/resources

IPP is a proud member of the Credit for Change coalition, giving people a chance to earn time off their sentences and return home as productive members of their communities. Learn more about the fight in this excellent Chicago Reporter article: chicagoreporter.com/decades-behind…

But the passage of the so-called "truth in sentencing" laws ended those policies, leaving thousands destined to die in prison with no hope of ever going home, while costing the state billions each year to incarcerate an increasingly aging and sick population. (2/3)

Before the late 1990s, most people in Illinois prisons were able to earn time off their sentences with work, training, and rehabilitative programs; the goal was to incentivize participation in programming and create safer prison environments. (1/3)

IPP seeks a dynamic, energetic Legal Support Intern for Summer 2026 to provide programmatic & administrative support to IPP to help reduce mass incarceration; ideal for college Junior or Seniors interested in social work, lawyering, advocacy, etc. illinoisprisonproject.org/join-us

Youth & emerging adults are the epicenter of IL's mass incarceration crisis. But there is hope! ✨ New youthful parole laws + court rulings opened pathways out of prison for people who were given excessive sentences under age 21. Learn more at illinoisprisonproject.org/resources.