Safer Foundation Legislative UPDATE

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Public Policy and External Relations May 2, 2012 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ SAFER FOUNDATION *UPDATE* ON IMPORTANT LEGISLATION CURRENTLY UNDER CONSIDERATION IN THE ILLINOIS GENERAL ASSEMBLY           Dear Community Partner:   As a proud member of the "Coalition for Prison Reform," Safer Foundation supports mesures designed to ease prison overcrowding, while at the same time ensuring public safety and saving money for taxpayers.   Safer Foundation supports the establishment of Sentence Credits with Rigorous Control. Since Illinois suspended the Meritorious Good Time Program in 2010, the State has added about 4,000 mostly low-level offenders to its total prison population. DOC should be directed to begin using a "Sentence Credit" system with rigorous controls.    Safer Foundation is pleased to let you know that SB2621 Sponsored by Senator Kwame Raoul (SAFE AND COST EFFECTIVE SOLUTIONS TO ILLINOIS PRISON OVERCROWDING) - Amendments 3 and 4 PASSED out of the Senate's Criminal Law Committee. The measure now goes before the full Senate for consideration.   Your support of this important measure is still needed. Please contact your local legislator and the Governor's Office.     The "Coalition for Prison Reform" website is available to assist you in sending letters:  http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?e=001zaa-d-nLcVj-O4UQTh9CRO0oaYxOMzWlaidWGiyi7vp4A9ELhSIEceragpJ7_AYYmiYHNgUEstwBD3rFiPQMw-dtp1vghMqSylQIlvRsGnZEzpURahfVDACNhvSwq1OQ4tLfyKZFMaulRCBXx6P2EyogRnlsSkTooQGOoAMNATC7bPGsEOfyhQ==   For more information, please contact Esther Franco-Payne of Metropolis Strategies (esther.franco-payne@cm2020.org or 312-332-6293).   Thank you! Follow Us on Twitter! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Follow @SaferFoundation on Twitter for more updates on criminal justice news and more information about the organization. We appreciate your support!  Public Policy and External Relations Contacts ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ B. Diane Williams, President / CEO Veronica Cunningham, Vice President, Public Policy and External Relations Jon Kaplan, Director, Marketing and Communication Anthony Lowery, Director, Policy and Advocacy phone: 312-922-2200 www.saferfoundation.org ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ * Many articles refer to people with criminal records as "ex-offenders" or "offenders". While we appreciate all the positive press these issues receive, we are working to use other terms to describe our clients that do not carry such negative connotations. These terms include "people with criminal records" or "people reentering society".