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Common and Chance The Rapper spoke outside the Cook County Jail in Chicago on Wednesday (October 20) advocating for parole law reform in Illinois.

Block Club Chicago reports. The Chicago-born rappers are advocating for change just two weeks before lawmakers consider the Senate Bill 2333, which would make inmates eligible for parole after serving 20 years behind bars. Both artists spoke outside the Cook County Jail on Wednesday (October 20), urging the bill to be passed after Illinois ended discretionary parole in 1978. SB 2333 is a necessary policy that will begin to correct the harms of long-term incarceration in this state and putting an end to negative impacts that incarceration has on our community, family members, and the loved ones of those who are incarcerated, Chance The Rapper said. We need a criminal justice system that reflects the values we want to see in this world. Chance The Rapper saw prison first-hand in 2019 when he performed at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois to celebrate seven inmates earning bachelors degrees. Driving out through endless cornfields to a walled-off compound isolated from the rest of society, walking into an auditorium to be greeted by armed guards and then to sit and see the rows of men, I was there to perform for shackled hands and feet, draped all in blue, he said. And then to know that after this performance, and after the ceremony, each man would be forced back into his tiny, dilapidated cell for the remainder of that day and for days on end we need to understand incarceration for what it is: torture. He added, We need to start pushing and transforming our criminal justice system in sentencing laws. With this reality in mind, that means pushing for policies like parole. Read more