News & Commentary

The below statement can be attributed to Rachel Murphy, Police Practices Project Staff Attorney, ACLU of Illinois: 

Sandra Botello, an unemployed mother living in Chicago, faced a difficult financial choice – pay $400 in school fees for her son or cover the cost of renewing Chicago’s mandatory vehicle sticker. She paid the school fees, keeping her son’s education moving forward – but within weeks received five $200 tickets for not having a vehicle sticker. Late fees and collection fees caused her debt to balloon to nearly $3000. Chicago impounded Ms. Botello’s car for unpaid tickets, charged additional fees for storing her car for 33 days, ultimately sold the car for scrap, and left her with thousands of dollars of debt. 

The below statement can be attributed to Khadine Bennett, Director of Advocacy and Intergovernmental Affairs, ACLU of Illinois:

The country is closely watching the Supreme Court, wondering what Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death means for the future of Roe v. Wade and the right to access abortion care. It is important to remember, however, that many people already live in, for all practical purposes, what is a post-Roe world. Depending on where someone lives in the country, their ability to access abortion care may be legal, but limited by real-world obstacles like their ability to pay for care.  

Earlier today, the Illinois Supreme Court unanimously ruled in favor of Kris Fulkerson, a woman seeking to exercise her rights as a step-parent under Illinois Civil Union Act. Ms. Fulkerson entered into a civil union with the father of the child, and acted as a step-parent to the child prior to the father’s death. An appellate court denied Ms. Fulkerson the ability to seek rights as a step-parent because she and her partner had entered into a civil union, rather than a marriage. Today’s decision reverses that decision. 

A court-appointed medical expert charged with overseeing improvements in the health care system inside Illinois prisons again reported serious flaws in the system, including the continued need for qualified medical professionals and an effective program to control infectious diseases. The findings are contained in a comprehensive report to a federal district court in Chicago in Lippert v. Jeffreys, a case challenging the availability of adequate health care in Illinois prisons. The report, authored by Dr. John Raba, is the second accounting for the State’s progress under an agreement reached in 2019. 

Cristina Nichole Iglesias has been denied critical medical care, raped, physically and sexually abused, and even held hostage during her time housed in federal corrections facilities for men. Ms. Iglesias’ victimization is a direct result of the federal Bureau of Prisons’ (BOP) refusal to recognize Ms. Iglesias as the woman she is and to provide her the health care and the security that she desperately needs. A copy of the complaint filed today can be found here.

Everyone’s work experience has changed this year because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, but there is one thing that stubbornly refuses to change: discrimination against workers who are pregnant or have recently given birth.

Illinois General Assembly Joint Hearing With Senate Criminal Law Committee and Senate Special Committee On Public SafetySubject Matter On: Police Training & Use of ForceSeptember 1, 2020