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Chicago Faith leaders protest prison treatment at Stateville Correctional

Press conference: Tuesday, December 7, 2021, 9am What: Faith and Community leaders prayer vigil and water caravan Where: Beginning at Trinity United Church of Christ (400 W 95th St, Chicago, IL 60628) and ending at Stateville Correctional Center Maximum Security Prison (16830 IL-53, Crest Hill, IL 60403)

On Tuesday, December 7th, 2021, beginning at 9am, dozens of people and community organizations and churches gathered at Trinity United Church of Christ, 400 W 95th St, Chicago, IL 60628, to pray and send off a caravan filled with thousands of bottles of sealed water.

This caravan headed to Stateville Correctional Center Maximum Security Prison, 16830 IL-53, Crest Hill, IL 60403. The caravan will meet at Stateville at 11:45am to hold a prayer vigil as it delivers water to those incarcerated and speaks on the inhumane conditions inside.

It has come to our attention that those incarcerated have only been receiving water through one state-approved vendor, the Justice for Nickolas Lee organization, and not the prison itself. Further, the water that comes through the plumbing system is brown and smells of sewage.

The faith and community leaders endorsing and/or participating in the prayer and caravan are Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (SOUL), Justice for Nickolas Lee, Make Noize for Change, Monument of Faith, Trinity United Church of Christ, Trinity United Church of Christ Prison Ministry, A Just Harvest, The People’s Lobby, Community Renewal Society, Black Lives Matter Chicago, Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression, Campaign to Free Incarcerated Survivors of Police Torture (CFIST), Nikkei Uprising, Chicago Torture Justice Center, Grace Church Logan Square, The Hampton House, Root and Branch Church, United Church of Rogers Park, Sen. Robert Peters, Rev. Dr. Otiss Moss III, and Charlene Carruthers.

Stateville Correctional Center Maximum Security Prison, 16830 IL-53, Crest Hill, IL. Photo courtesy of Wikipedia

The demand for this event is simple, the Gov. J. B. Pritzker, and IDOC Director, Dir. Rob Jeffreys, have the authority to provide both a short-term solution of clean water, as well as a long-term, sustainable, fix of clean water inside Stateville Prison. Currently, this coalition is doing the State’s job for it.

“Water is a human right. Why is this an issue when the Illinois Department of Corrections has a budget of 1.5 billion dollars?” Cassandra Greer, the founder of the Justice for Nickolas Lee grassroots organization, said. She went on to say, “this water crisis has been going on for over two decades. We have a recording of a gentleman inside saying this has been going on since he’s been in there. He got in there 24 years ago.”

My faith tradition, and as a minister of Christ, I am compelled to act accordingly, and confess to others the way of justice and mercy. Holy Scripture tells us that the Prophet Micah said to those who held authority, “He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?”

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Ray Hanania

Ray Hanania is an award-winning columnist, author & former Chicago City Hall reporter (1977-1992). A veteran who served during the Vietnam War and the recipient of four SPJ Peter Lisagor Awards for column writing, Hanania writes weekly opinion columns on mainstream American & Chicagoland topics for the Southwest News-Herald, Des Plaines Valley News, the Regional News, The Reporter Newspapers, and Suburban Chicagoland.

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