Common and Chance The Rapper stay on the frontline representing their people in Chicago and are advocating for a new parole reform law that will make Illinois inmates eligible for parole after serving 20 years.
The two Windy City rappers were part of rally outside of Cook County jail in Chicago on Wednesday (Oct. 20) calling for the support of Senate Bill 2333, which will go into consideration by lawmakers in the next two weeks. The new bill hopes to recant an Illinois law that ended discretionary parole in 1978.
“SB 2333 is a necessary policy that will begin to correct the harms of long-term incarceration in this state and putting an end to negative impacts that incarceration has on our community, family members, and the loved ones of those who are incarcerated. We need a criminal justice system that reflects the values we want to see in this world… We need to start pushing and transforming our criminal justice system in sentencing laws. With this reality in mind, that means pushing for policies like parole,” Chance stated to the press.
Chance also talked to the crowd and the news about prison and whether it truly rehabilitates people or gets them the help they really need while incarcerated.
“Driving out through endless cornfields to a walled-off compound isolated from the rest of society, walking into an auditorium to be greeted by armed guards and then to sit and see the rows of men, I was there to perform for shackled hands and feet, draped all in blue. And then to know that after this performance, and after the ceremony, each man would be forced back into his tiny, dilapidated cell for the remainder of that day and for days on end — we need to understand incarceration for what it is: torture,” the “No Problem” rapper continued.
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