State Representative Carol Ammons is joining several other community leaders in hosting a conversation about local criminal justice reform and the county jail proposal. Panelists include Cunningham Township Supervisor Danielle Chynoweth, Champaign County Board member Mike Ingram, Dr. Thomas Moore of the NAACP, Marlon Mitchell and Marcell McNutt of First Followers, State Senator Scott Bennett, and the Zeta Xi Lambda chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha.
From the press release:
“For the better part of two decades, I have worked with the incredible activists here in Champaign/Urbana to fight for criminal justice reform that is just and humane,” said Ammons. “Spending $47 million on a new county jail is regressive and it will waste this county’s tax dollars. National trends show that comprehensive pretrial reform is working. Ending cash bail is the first step to that reform and Illinois intends to take that step in the coming years. We need to be looking forward, to the future for criminal justice policy, not backward to institutions that perpetuate mass incarceration and the school to prison pipeline. Let’s build communities, not tear them apart.”
The forum is open to the public and will take place at the Champaign City Council Chambers on Thursday, January 9th from 6 to 8 p.m. Panelists will speak briefly, but a majority of the session will be open for questions from the community.
Top image: A poster with featured text “Criminal Justice Reform: Building a Better Justice System. Image from Facebook event page.