By Marlon Chamberlain, Fully Free Campaign Manager
I can still remember my first day home after serving ten years in federal prison. It was 9 years ago, and I can still feel the excitement and the relief I felt. Finally, I was done serving time and could move forward with my life. However, I soon discovered the many laws and policies in place that would remind me that I was not, or would never be, fully free.
People with records like me are told to rebuild their lives without help, all while navigating a complicated web of laws that restrict our rights. In the beginning, you don’t even realize it’s happening. You’re just getting rejections one after another – for housing, for jobs, for getting involved in your kids’ school as a mentor or chaperone.
Everyone deserves to fully participate in society as a free person—to access housing, education, employment, and opportunity. However, people with records cannot fully access those things. That’s why we call those laws and policies permanent punishments. They intentionally deny us opportunities.
Permanent punishments create a “prison after the prison,” and they follow us for the rest of our lives.
In addition, permanent punishments impact a lot of people! In Illinois, 3.3 million adults have been arrested or convicted of a crime since 1979. That is potentially 25% of the Illinois population currently dealing with these restrictions on their lives.
We know that the criminal legal system targets and oppresses people of color—especially people experiencing poverty—at every step. As a result, we continue to be haunted by the legacy of mass incarceration and permanent punishments.
The Fully Free Campaign is a state-wide movement to eliminate these permanent punishments. We want to provide hope and, most importantly, opportunity for people with records.
How are we doing that? The Fully Free Campaign is:
- Strengths-based, and led by directly-impacted people
- Building a state-wide coalition of advocates and institutions
- Releasing research and changing the narrative about people with records
- Taking the fight to Springfield to eliminate permanent punishments in Illinois.
I hope you’ll join us in this movement to make sure everyone can be fully free.
You can watch the recorded Virtual State-Wide Launch here
