Text: The Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice has launched the Success Plan Program. Your loved ones can take control over their own health. If your loved one is incarcerated in an Illinois state prison, they can access our Success Plan Program through Edovo. They can also locate one of our Liberatory Health Ambassadors to support them through this program. Funding provided in part or in whole by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. Image: An art-deco image of Chicago skyscrapers facing into the night sky. Spotlights point towards the text, which have gradient extrusions moving out of the frame.

The Success Plan program is available through @edovo.bsky.social in all Illinois Department of Corrections facilities. Contact your loved ones to let them know about this opportunity to take control over their health and future.

Yes and listening to those who both have an acute understanding that the system was designed to do exactly what it is doing and a willingness to build something different.

Text: Many thanks to Beyond the Bars from the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice. Image: A compilation of various speakers next to ILARJ’s Executive Director, Avalon Betts-Gaston, and Director of Curriculum of Training, Joel Davis.

We will continue to learn and grow as community advocates, whether it be to bolster our Courtwatching program or to support the success of individuals across the bars. #BeyondTheBars2026

Text: Lesson #4 The system is incredibly complicated. Following the many rules and procedures of our criminal legal system is tough. But these problems too often lead to people spending more time in the system. These needless delays and uncertainties are incredibly stressful for families and loved ones, who are often completely lost in trying to understand what’s happening. Image: A chaotic array of half-tone paper clips and a half-tone calculator are present. Scribbled notes that read, “he’s been in court 6 times for the same motion??” and “did her attorney do the math correctly? follow up” are across the page.

Even for attorneys and our professional Courtwatchers, the system has so many technicalities and quirks that it is difficult to keep up with. These difficulties and open questions mean that people spend more time in cages—over someone else’s error.

Text: Lesson number 3, Community involvement makes a difference. Community members coming to support their system-impacted friends and family members dramatically changes the mood inside of the courtroom. Judges become alert and prejudiced statements disappear. The ordinary kinds of drama and rule-bending that occurs rarely happens when community is present. Image: A blue half-tone eye and a blue half-tone smiling mouth can be seen. Scribbled notes that read, “judge finally began to pay attention here” and “heart, 22 people showed up!” are on the page.

Community actions make a noticeable difference in judges’ behavior. Community engagement helps hold judges to the standards they are supposed to follow.

Text: Lesson number 2. Numbers capture a lot more than we think. Courtwatching is an act of accountability. Bias appears when no one is looking — and our judicial system is mired in discretion that is invisible to the public. While we know that bias can happen at the end of a case, a lot of damage is done well before a judge or jury convicts someone — and long after. Image: A blue half-tone hand holding a stopwatch and a dark blue half-tone pen scribbling are on the page. Scribbled notes that read, “27 Black, 15 white, 7 AAPI” and “36 months, 42 months, minus 7 months” can be seen.

Accountability throughout every proceeding is fundamental to the work of courtwatching. The system has prejudice and challenges ingrained in every step, and we work to shed light on what that looks like for the community.

Text: Lesson number 1, Numbers can’t capture everything. As hard as we work to gather relevant data to activate community power to engage in co-governance, the most important stories are in our notes. Judges asleep at the bench, shouting matches in open court, people repeatedly not being brought to court from jail — every day has more stories than numbers alone can tell. Image: A scribble from the previous page reaches this one. A blue half-tone cut-out mouth and a blue linocut gavel occupy the page in front of the paper background. A scribbled note that reads “??? tell team about this” is present.

As hard as we work to capture the intricacies of the system, numbers cannot replace the written accounts we capture in the margins.

Text: The Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice operates the first and largest paid Courtwatching program in the US that is operated and led by system-impacted persons. Just over a year ago, we launched our Courtwatching program. Here’s what we’ve learned so far. Funding provided in part or in whole by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. Image: A paper texture on the background. A swirling scribble is in the top left corner, and a thick ink line is underneath the words “so far” moving off the page. The logo for the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice Courtwatching Program is visible.

1,614 days. That number represents the combined work of our Courtwatching Team in gathering data from within the walls of Cook County’s courts. One year and over 10,000 recorded observations later, we’re reflecting on some of the lessons that have stricken us the most. (🧵)

Text: Attending Beyond the Bars? Connect with us! We are the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice, and you can message us here or find us in-person. Funding provided in part or in whole by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. Image: An aerial view of New York City with clouds in the background. A photo of the ILARJ team is in view.

Message us, or find us in-person! We are attending #BeyondTheBars2026 at the Center for Justice at Columbia University! We are glad to connect and share more about our exciting programs.

To sign onto the witness slips, go to bit.ly/hb5287slip and follow this guide for directions.

Feel free to look closer at this legislation and please review the ILGA’s Terms of Agreeement.

The IL Legislature is currently holding its Spring legislative session. During sessions, bills are brought up a committee vote (some times multiple times) and for a floor vote. However, a bill rarely gets to a floor vote if it never gets voted out of committee.

Accountability means transforming beyond harm to prevent it from happening again.

Breonna Taylor's death was entirely preventable. Yet six years later, systems haven't changed.

Kentucky, our neighbor, learned more from Breonna than most of us. But no state has truly transformed after her death.

Text: Formerly Incarcerated Voters: Know Your Rights. Primary elections in Illinois are 11 days away. If you are not currently in jail or prison, you have the right to vote in Illinois. 2026 Key Primary Dates. Now: In-person voter registration continues. 03/12: Last day to request a mail-in ballot. 03/14: Date you may want to mail in your ballot (A recent rule change has added a significant delay between the date when mail is sent and when USPS marks the date they received it. Ballots dated after 3/17 won’t count.). 03/16: Last day of early voting. 03/17: Primary Election Day. Image: The Chicago skyline rests at the bottom of the image, with a cloudy sky above it. Included is the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice Logo.

If you are over 18 years old, a U.S. citizen, an Illinois resident of at least 30 days, and are not currently incarcerated, you have the right to vote. Participation in our democracy is vital for community co-governance.

Our commitment to abolition is driven by a belief in care and accountability rooted in community — building to Dr. King’s Beloved Community.

Love knows no cage. This Valentine's Day, we're thinking of the special moments our community members have missed behind the walls.

If IDOC policy allowed it, we'd be sending "Be Mine" candy hearts to all of the 1200+ incarcerated partners who make our work possible.

Text: Remembering Trayvon Martin. Born February 5, 1995. Killed February 26, 2025. Photo Credit to David Shankbone. Image: A photo from the Million Hoodie March after Trayvon Martin's killing, emphasizing the flyer with Trayvon's face and a packet of Skittles. On top of the photo is the logo for the Illinois Alliance for Reentry & Justice.

So many Black babies have been taken from our communities. Fourteen years later, we remember Trayvon Martin and how systemic racism enabled his killing.

Text: LAUNCHING SOON: Liberatory Health Ambassador Fellowship. Across the State of Illinois, there are thousands of people with the potential to be leaders in their community. Many of them are incarcerated. So we’re building leadership across the bars. Every month, new fellows will activate power over their health and lead within their community. The Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice is proudly in a unique position to perform this work, with over 1300 partners across 32 IDOC facilities. Funding provided in part or in whole by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. Image: A cycle between people representing community feedback and growth. Bars and stars are in the background. Included is the logo for the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice.

Countless people are held back by our carceral system from becoming community leaders—we’re challenging this.

Every month, we will induct Liberatory Health Fellows across Illinois’s prison system, training and activating our fellows’ leadership potential. The potential for leadership knows no cage.

Text: The Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice Courtwatching program has made over 1100+ observations in the month of January. Judicial accountability, brought by the professionals. From the largest paid Courtwatching program operated by system-impacted persons in the US. Funding provided in part or in whole by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. Image: A paper-like background covered with swirls, with a journal and pen in the foreground. The logo for the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice Courtwatching program can be seen.

ILARJ runs the largest paid, professional, and impacted-operated Courtwatching program in the United States.

Every day, our Courtwatching Associates gather meticulous data on pen-and-paper within the walls of Cook County’s criminal courts, enhancing transparency and judicial accountability.

Text: Honoring Dr. King. Quote: The end is the creation of a beloved community. The end is the creation of a society where men will live together as brothers. An end is not retaliation but redemption. Image: Statue of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the logo for the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice.

Community-based care and accountability are at the heart of ILARJ’s mission. Dr. King’s Beloved Community inspires us every day.

Text: Prisons perpetuate poverty. January is National Poverty in America Awareness Month. ILARJ fights to transform systems and address the root social determinants of health behind harm. Especially poverty (emphasized). Community power can only grow if we reimagine and remake justice. Image: A bare-chested Black man laboring away. Included is the logo for the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice.

ILARJ continues to activate community power so that every person has equal access to opportunity and true economic stability.

Text: Our New Year’s Resolution? Making this year even better for everyone in our Beloved Community. Image: In the background, a gold and blue firework explosion. In the front, the logo for the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice.

New Years should be a fresh start. Today we’re thinking about everyone in our Beloved Community who are marking today in difficult circumstances.

Our collective strength is bound in compassion and mutual love, and we will continue to activate that strength every day.

We wish Happy Holidays to everyone as we rest and reflect on all that this year has brought for us.

Text: Success depends on the ability to activate the power and the radical imagination of community. Our Success Plan is necessary to realize that vision. Joel Davis, Director of Programming at the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice. Funding provided in part or in whole by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. Image: A picture of Joel Davis. A distorted image of Chicago is in the background.

Success is a process of transformation. Our Success Plan brings people together to tackle the social determinants of health and activate their power in a community context. We proudly serve hundreds of currently incarcerated persons throughout the state of Illinois and bring them success.

Text: Success at your Fingertips. Edovo x Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice. Funded in part or in whole by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority. Live now. Image: A person holding a tablet with the words “Success Plan program”. Behind the tablet is a bland image of Chicago. On the tablet is an overlay of the same image, but with crisp colors and a bright light.

Our Success Plan Program is live on edovo for persons in the care and custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections. Please let your family members know about this transformative opportunity that activates the power of the person from within the walls to reclaim their health and well-being.

We cannot understate the gratitude we feel for everything that has been made possible through these past 6 years. Struggle after struggle, community has continued to band together and deploy radical imagination to make serious change together.

Text: Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. Being Unhoused may not be criminalized directly in every state, but the mechanisms to survive being unhoused are. This includes: acts of desperation for food, encampments, sleeping on park benches, loitering, disorderly conduct claims, trying to keep a clean body, limits on what you can carry, street campfires when cold. Image: The text is arranged to look like a court house. Included is the logo for the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice.

If we are going to be serious about public safety, then we must invest in improving the social determinants of health as the most effective prevention mechanism.

We remain thankful for all of the opportunities that our community has made possible, and are grateful to continue working with such incredible people.

Funding provided in whole or in part by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority.

Hailey now works to understand those impacted by and dismantle these systems of harm and oppression. As the Executive Vital to ILARJ, Hailey will work closely with the Executive Director to support programming and operations. In her free time, she enjoys fiber art like knitting, crochet, and sewing.

She experienced first-hand the impacts of reentry on families and seven years of involvement in the criminal legal system as a young adult.

Additionally, we would also like to welcome Hailey Garza to our team as the Executive Vital. Hailey believes in the power of community and collective solidarity to create change for all persons.