After years of advocacy and fighting through the legislature and the courts, Illinois finally ended cash bond in September 2023. Now, people accused of crimes can no longer be held before trial simply because they don’t have access to a pile of cash. Instead, prosecutors and defense attorneys are meant to argue it out before judges, who decide whether someone must be held in jail. In the old system, Black and Latino men had to pay with bond amounts that were higher than white men. And their families often had to scrape together their savings to get family members out of jail.

GUESTS: 

Briana Payton

Associate director of policy and advocacy for Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts 

Shannon Ross

Formerly/wrongfully incarcerated person of color

Madeleine Behr

Policy Director for Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation  (CAASE)