Panel to Explore Impact of November Election on Incarcerated Population

Featuring Chicago-based formerly incarcerated activists

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 25, 2024
Contact: Anaga Dalal, adalal@uchicago.edu, 201.600.4718 (c)

Chicago, IL. On Tuesday, October 29 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m., the Beyond Prisons Initiative of the Center for the Study of Race, Politics & Culture (CSRPC) at the University of Chicago will convene a panel to discuss the implications of the 2024 U.S. presidential election on the movement to abolish prisons, and on incarcerated persons.

CSRPC Beyond Prisons Justice Practitioner Fellow James “Jimmy” Soto will be among the panelists. Soto, who was wrongfully incarcerated for 42 years, recently announced a lawsuit against the Chicago Police Department and Cook County.

"They take so much from you when you're incarcerated - your personhood - and that's reflected when they take away your right to vote,” says Soto. “To them, you’re less than a citizen.”

Other panelists include:

• Bella BAHHS, an arts activist

• Alex Boutros of Chicago Votes

• Renaldo Hudson of the Illinois Prison Project

• Collette Payne of the Women’s Justice Institute

"What I hope our next president will focus on is meaningful reentry for people released from prison, rather than assigning them parole officers to patrol their trauma,” says panelist Renaldo Hudson of the Illinois Prison Project. “How about giving everyone a therapist when they walk out of corrections instead?”

Brandis Friedman, host of WTTW’s Chicago Tonight, will moderate the discussion.

“People who are directly impacted are at the forefront of the movement to abolish prisons,” says Beyond Prisons Director of Practice Alice Kim. “This panel will wrestle with what is missing in the national conversation about the election as more than two million persons languish in U.S. prisons—the highest rate of incarceration in the world.”

The event will take place at the Women’s Justice Institute, 2150 S. Canalport Avenue in Chicago.

Register to attend at bit.ly/BeyondBallot. Doors open at 6:00 p.m. for a reception. The program begins at 6:45 p.m.