A conversation with Willette Benford, Chair of the Fully Free Campaign Governing Board and Decarceration Organizer at Live Free Illinois
“The climate of the nation and Illinois has changed. People like me, people who have been involved in the criminal legal system, must be the drivers of change.” — Willette Benford
In Illinois, over 3.3 million people are living under the weight of laws and regulations that restrict or deny rights and opportunities. All told, there are almost 1200 of these individual laws and regulations on the books. For many, their rights are denied for a lifetime through these permanent punishments. These punishments disproportionately impact Black individuals. Black people make up 13.8% of Illinois’s adult population but 28.9% of those who acquired arrest or conviction records, 34.9% of people who were convicted of crimes, and 45.3% of people who were convicted of felonies.
Willette Benford is just one of those 3.3 million people in Illinois. Today, equipped with her first-hand experiences within the unjust and often deeply traumatizing criminal legal system plus years of formal experience organizing and building campaigns for change, she is trailblazing a new era of justice reform in Illinois.
Alongside a diverse group of individuals who have been justice involved, Willette serves as the Chair of the Governing Board of Fully Free, the first campaign in the nation working to dismantle the laws and regulations that deny rights and opportunities for people with criminal records. She and the other members of the board are steering the campaign from every angle – including legislative strategy, organizing and engagement of impacted individuals and communities, and the look, feel, and web presence of the campaign. “We are equals in this multi-year campaign” Willette said. “Our expertise is centered and we’re in decision making roles. And we are compensated for our time and talent. It’s a new era.”
Willette feels the momentum of this new era in big and small ways. She recently sat on a panel with Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton speaking directly to power about how the laws and regulations in Illinois had to change for people like her and so many others. “I was shaping justice policy in real time,” Willette told me. “It felt like I was coming full circle – as if all of my experiences and expertise mattered equally. I was an equal to people in power making decisions that impacted real lives. I could see change happening. It was life changing.”
In addition to her Illinois activism and organizing, Willette and her colleagues spearheaded a campaign (in just three weeks) leading up to the Georgia Senate election. Their goal? Organize as many individuals directly impacted by the justice system as possible and get them to vote. Willette served as one of the primary trainers of the community canvassers and brain trust of the over-arching campaign. She tells me with a smile on her face that there was no way she could sit on the sidelines though. “I had to get into the community and canvass with everyone else.” She recalls a young man who she spent nearly an hour talking with leading up to Election Day who couldn’t see how his voice and vote could matter because of the conditions within his community. In the end he did understand that his voice was his vote, and he also performed at one of their community rallies. “This work is about meeting people where they are – giving grace. We have an obligation to do that as people and a society, to give grace to each other” She tells me.
Willette knows that this work is not without its challenges and potholes, however. We have a long road to travel to achieve justice and many more individuals to engage and empower. “The fear is always that we retreat or go back to how things have always been done,” she says. This work requires that we don’t just change laws but ensure that implementation of those laws is just and equitable also. And that we honor legislators and change makers who are advancing more just legislation as well as keep them accountable. It also requires that more people and campaigns embrace and center the leadership, voices and experiences of people who have been directly impacted by the criminal legal system to advance change. That is what equal partnership in this work looks like.
It requires us to double-down to advance a new era of reform.
It is with deep gratitude to Willette that we thank her for giving of her time and voice to this conversation and work of advancing criminal legal reform.
If you want to connect directly with Willette, you can reach her on the following social media channels:
Twitter: @BenfordWillette
LinkedIn: Willette Benford
Learn more about her work at Live Free Illinois: livefreeillinois.org
Read Heartland Alliance’s report, Never Fully Free: The Scale and Impact of Permanent Punishments on People with Criminal Records in Illinois
