The public generally believes that if the formerly incarcerated obey laws and avoid pushing back against the status quo, they will be redeemed as good citizens. However, this narrative is simply not true.
Consider this: Some 3.3 million adults have been arrested or convicted of a crime in Illinois since 1979. Most of the 277,000 people released from prison in Illinois every year return to Cook County. Yet only a fraction of these individuals have seats at the tables where decisions are being made about the direction, values and investments made by our state and communities.
