With lack of sanitation and so many vulnerable people it is past time to FREE STATEVILLE NOW.
It is critical that Governor Pritzker release the elderly and other vulnerable people from Stateville Prisons. It is truly a matter of life and death.
In 2016, Flynard, one of my art students in the Prison and Neighborhood Arts Project at Stateville prison made the poignant relief print Give Me Freedom or Give Me Death. In light of the recent deaths do to COVID-19 at Stateville Prison and the lack of sanitation his print has taken on another layer of meaning and rings true in profound ways. To lift up his original work and bring attention to the urgencies of his words I made a simple animation from his design.
On March 12th the Illinois Coalition for Higher Education in Prison (IL-CHEP) presented a letter to the governor demanding a review of all people in Illinois prisons and jails who are elderly or infirm, with an eye toward providing medical furloughs or compassionate release to as many of them as possible. Add your voice to the letter here.
Take further action to free them now at the Free The People Coalition.
