ROCK ISLAND, ILLINOIS (September 27, 2021) — Human-rights advocates across the Quad Cities are meeting tomorrow, Tuesday, September 28, at the Project NOW Moline office (711 4th Ave), 11AM, to form a new chapter of a state-wide coalition whose mission is to end permanent punishments. The local group is joining with Fully Free, a state-wide, multi-year effort to end the hundreds of Illinois laws and sanctions that bar people with records from achieving opportunity and self-sufficiency.
Marlon Chamberlain, Campaign Manager for Fully Free, says the state-wide coalition plans to remove hundreds of legal barriers to housing, education, and economic opportunity in Illinois. Chamberlain — who spent ten years in prison — has spent the last ten years working to develop coalitions across the state to make changes in Illinois laws.
Following the 11AM meeting is a luncheon at Grace City Church at 1925 5th Ave in Rock Island, bringing together leading human-rights advocates, artists, and Formerly Incarcerated People (FIP) to officially launch the pathway to dismantle these legal penalties, otherwise known as "permanent punishments," that create long-lasting barriers to employment, housing, education, and civil engagement.
The Fully Free Campaign was formed as a response to the Social IMPACT Research Center’s first-of-a-kind study that revealed permanent punishments impact more than 3.3 million people in Illinois due to former criminal legal-system involvement. The report highlighted the critical need to create a state-wide campaign to dismantle permanent punishments.
Project NOW’s Executive Director, Dwight Ford, says returning citizens should be afforded the right of economic opportunity so they don’t remain in a caste system. “We have a moral responsibility to ensure these penalties are not permanent so we can move people out of poverty regardless of their past so they can begin contributing to the tax base and take care of their families.”
