American Friends Service Committee – Chicago Peacebuilding: Chicago Peacebuilding works to dismantle militarism and state violence. AFSC for investment in communities of color criminalized by those same systems, working to defund the Chicago Police Department and invest in communities, close youth prisons and organize for community safety beyond policing. [Website] [IG]
Appleseed Center for Fair Courts: Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts advocates for a legal system that is equitable, accessible, and fair to all people; efficient so justice is not delayed; and effective in seeking solutions to social injustices. Their work focuses on improving civil and criminal court processes for people with and without representation and promoting judicial excellence. [Website] [IG]
The Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression (CAARPR): The Chicago Alliance is a branch of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, a mass defense organization that defends the rights of Black people and all oppressed peoples to unite, organize and fight for freedom, justice and equality. CAARPR advocates for community control of the Chicago Police Department and to free incarcerated survivors of police torture. [Website] [IG]
Chicago Anarchist Black Cross: Chicago chapter of the global anarchist support network, supporting and amplifying the voices of anarchist political prisoners and advocating and agitating for the end of the prison system. [Website] [IG]
Chicago Books to Women in Prison: Chicago Books to Women in Prison is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) organization that sends free books to women and trans people in prison nationwide. [Website] [IG]
Chicago Community Jail Support: Chicago Community Jail Support is a daily, on the ground, grassroots mutual aid project run completely by volunteers. Their mission is to assist anyone being released from Cook County Jail, their loved ones, and the surrounding community. They focus on providing direct aid that meets the immediate needs of those being released with phone calls, warm clothing, snacks, drinks, PPE, safe transportation home, and emergency housing. [Website] [IG]
Chicago Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee (IWOC): The Incarcerated Workers Organizing Committee is a prison-led section of the Industrial Workers of the World. Its purpose is ‘a union for the incarcerated,’ with the goal of abolishing prison slavery, as well as fighting to end the exploitation of working-class people around the world. [Website] [IG]
Chicago Votes: Chicago Votes is a non-partisan, non-profit organization building a more inclusive democracy by putting power in the hands of young Chicagoans. In addition to youth-led programs and partnerships to promote civic engagement, their Unlock Civics initiative, which includes voter registration and polling inside Cook County Jail, civics education for incarcerated individuals leaving prison so they know their rights upon re-entry and a court-watching program. [Website] [IG]
Circles & Ciphers: A hip-hop infused restorative justice organization led by and for young people impacted by violence. Through art-based peace circles, education, and direct action, they collectively heal and work to bring about the abolition of the prison-industrial complex. [Website] [IG]
Coalition to Decarcerate Illinois: The Coalition to Decarcerate IL is a group of loved ones of the incarcerated, currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, activists, and creatives working towards abolition and fighting for the rights and dignity of currently incarcerated individuals and their loved ones. [Website] [IG]
Communities United: Communities United (CU) is a survivor-led, intergenerational racial justice organization in Chicago. At the heart of CU’s organizing is the development of grassroots leadership to build collective power to achieve racial justice and transformative social change. With this approach, CU focuses on advancing affordable housing, health equity, education justice, youth investment, immigrant rights, and shifting resources from the criminal justice and juvenile justice systems into restorative justice alternatives. [Website] [IG]
The Final 5 Campaign: The Final 5 Campaign is dedicated to the closure of the final five youth prisons in Illinois. The campaign consists of a coalition of formerly incarcerated youth, families impacted by the juvenile legal system, and allies who are committed to closing youth prisons and believe in investing in communities, and places a high value on community investment and youth leadership. [Website] [IG]
IDOC Watch: Abolitionist mass solidarity organization supporting those incarcerated in Indiana Department of Corrections facilities. [Website] [IG]
Illinois Coalition for Higher Education in Prison: ILCHEP advocates for greater access to quality higher education opportunities for all people who are incarcerated in Illinois while supporting policies that will abolish our state’s and nation’s reliance on criminalization and incarceration. [Website] [IG]
Illinois Prisoner Rights Coalition: The Illinois Prisoner Rights Coalition is an abolitionist group of advocates made up of professionals, students, faith leaders, incarcerated and directly impacted members of our community. They advocate for incarcerated people in the state of Illinois who are mistreated and neglected and demand transparency and accountability from the carceral facilities that often have little to no oversight or accountability for their actions. [Website] [IG]
Injustice Watch: Injustice Watch is a Chicago-based nonprofit journalism organization that examines issues of equity and justice in the court system. They seek to listen to and center people affected by institutional injustices and provide the community with the perspectives, information, and resources needed to hold power to account. They are perhaps best known for producing and distributing a comprehensive and accessible judicial voter guide. [Website] [IG]
Jericho Chicago: Chicago chapter of Jericho Movement, a movement to free all political prisoners/prisoners of war in the U.S. [IG]
#LetUsBreathe Collective: The #LetUsBreathe Collective is an alliance of artists and activists organizing through a creative lens to imagine a world without prisons and police. They organize artists, educators, healers, and organizers to love and transform themselves, their families, their communities, and their cities through radical imagination and healing. They offer a paid summer apprenticeship, multidisciplinary cultural and political education events and more. [Website] [IG]
Liberation Library: Liberation Library (LibLib) is a Chicago-based and volunteer-led prison abolition organization that provides books & youth-led magazines to incarcerated young people in Illinois including all five state-run youth facilities and over six county juvenile detention centers. As an abolitionist group, they build towards a future without prisons and jails. Until then, they work with impacted young people to support them in developing their imagination, leadership skills, self-determination, and connections with each other and to outside worlds of their choosing. [Website] [IG]
Love & Protect: Love & Protect supports those who identify as women and gender non-conforming persons of color who are criminalized or harmed by state and interpersonal violence. Through love, they work towards healing and transformation with these individuals and their families. Through resistance, they seek to protect their right to defend themselves. [Website] [IG]
Mamas Activating Movements for Abolition and Solidarity (MAMAS): MAMAS is a fiery feminist of color, abolitionist reproductive justice collective hailing from the heart of Chicago and working to amplify and build power among mother-survivors of state violence. MAMAS are unapologetically confronting and dismantling systems of state violence – including prisons, war, colonization, imperialism, and migrant injustices. One Chicago collective, Mothers of the Kidnapped, is dedicated to caring for those who are caring for survivors of police torture. [Website] [IG]
Midwest Books to Prisoners: Midwest Books to Prisoners is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) not for profit book store and organization based in Chicago directly supporting inmates by furthering their educational goals. Since 2004, they have been accepting requests from any and all incarcerated people, and mailing them reading material that corresponds to their areas of interest free of charge. [Website] [IG]
Moms United Against Violence and Incarceration: Moms United organizes mutual support and participatory defense in solidarity with mothers who’ve suffered criminalization and separation from their kids. [Facebook]
Mutual Aid Dawning: A mutual aid collective building liberation culture and projects in the suburbs of shikaakwa (settler named Chicago, IL). Initiatives include jail support and an abolitionist working group. [Website] [IG]
Performing Statistics: A national cultural organizing project that uses art to model, imagine and advocate for a world without prisons where young people are fully supported to be free. Young people most impacted by the juvenile justice system have the power to use art and storytelling to lead the vision toward a world beyond youth incarceration. [Website] [IG]
Prison/Neighborhood Arts/Ed Project (PNAP): The Prison + Neighborhood Arts/Education Project (PNAP) is a visual arts and education project that connects teaching artists and scholars to incarcerated students at Stateville Maximum Security Prison through classes, workshops, a policy think tank, and guest lectures. PNAP also offers a tuition-free degree-granting program at Stateville in partnership with the University Without Walls at Northeastern Illinois University. [Website] [IG]
Pushing Envelopes: Grounded in prison abolition, Pushing Envelopes Chicago builds LGBTQ+ community across bars through penpal relationships, legal aid, and re-entry support. Pushing Envelopes Chicago is a collectively-run volunteer organization consisting of currently incarcerated, formerly-incarcerated, system-impacted, and allied individuals with a shared commitment to building community at the intersection of incarceration and LGBTQ+ identities. [Website] [IG]
REAL Youth Initiative: REAL is a community of currently & formerly incarcerated young people working to abolish prisons and the conditions that (re)produce them. [Website] [IG]
Transformative Justice Law Project: Rooted in beliefs of abolition and gender self-determination, TJLP provides free, zealous, life & gender affirming legal services. They are known particularly for their name change mobilizations—free, in-person support for those seeking to change their name or gender marker on legal documents. [Website] [IG]
Uptown People’s Law Center: UPLC advocates for prisoners, tenants, and disabled people denied public benefits. [Website] [IG]
Westside Justice Center: The Westside Justice Center is a community-centered organization that promotes a holistic approach to justice by: 1) Facilitating legal literacy to reduce recidivism; 2) Providing legal and quasi-legal assistance to individuals; and 3) Establishing and nurturing community trust through participatory deliberations and restorative justice practices, to collaboratively mitigate the consequences of incarceration on criminalized communities. [Website] [IG]
beyond november 