A small demonstration in the West Loop, brought around 2 dozen activists with the group No New Prisons Illinois to the State of Illinois building at 555 W. Monroe, in opposition of Governor J. B. Pritzker’s earmarking of $900 million in his proposed state budget to build 2 new state of the art prisons, to replace Stateville and Logan.
Avalon Betts-Gaston is the executive director for the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice, she tells WBBM Newsradio that she believes building new prisons will only encourage the state to fill them.
“If we have to choose between spending $900 million of tax-payer money, on something…we are going to get a bigger bang for our buck if we invest in root causes”, said Betts-Gaston.
Betts-Gaston and those on the sidewalk with her on Friday, say that $900 million would be better spent on things like education, transportation, and mental health services.
“It is time for the State of Illinois to have a real, educated, evidence-based conversation about ‘oh, wait a minute, we believed for more than my life-time that these measures (incarceration) are the things that kept us safe’, when in fact they’re not”, adds Betts-Gaston.