#DecarcerateCOVID19: Ashley’s story about her father

Meet Ashley. Her father is incarcerated in an Illinois prison and is extremely sick and has a history of serious illness. He had liver cancer and received a liver transplant. Now his kidneys are failing; he is currently on a kidney transplant list. As COVID-19 spreads, people with chronic diseases and cancer are especially susceptible.

Just today, Ashley’s father, who had been randomly assigned to a cell by himself, got a new roommate, someone who has come straight from the outside world. Every day that goes past without a move to decarcerate vulnerable populations is an additional day that they are in danger. Ashley has not stopped calling the prison where her father is incarcerated, and said, “they’re going to have to block my number to get me to stop calling.”

“They’re going to have to block my number to get me to stop calling”

Ashley is among many Illinoisians who are worried about their loved ones who are incarcerated. There is one responsible way to prevent incacerated people who are elderly and infirm from getting COVID-19 in jails and prisons, and that is by letting them go home and self-quarantine with their families in this time of crisis. The Freedom to Learn Campaign IL is asking that the governor immediately order a review of all people in Illinois prisons and jails who are elderly or infirm, with an eye toward providing medical furloughs or compassionate release to as many of them as possible.

If you also feel strongly about this urgent issue, please sign this letter to the governor, which can be viewed in its entirety and signed here. 

If you have a loved one who is elderly or infirm incarcerated in Illinois, please reach out to the Freedom to Learn Campaign on Facebook or Twitter. We would be honored to share your story as we urge the governor to make this necessary decision. Please share the letter and Ashley’s story on social media, and tweet @GovPritzker to plead him to follow through on these actions.

#DecarcerateCOVID19 #ReleaseThem #FreeThemAll #QuarantinedAdvocacy

ACT NOW

For people like Ashley and her father, this is an urgency matter. It is imperative that people are actively reaching out to Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Corrections. In addition to this story on social media and signing the letter, join Ashley and the Freedom to Learn Campaign IL in calling to advocate for the release of the elderly and infirm from Illinois jails and prisons. If you have never done any advocacy work before, these graphics will walk you through who to call and what to say.

HERE’S HOW