NLG CHICAGO

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Mass Defense Committee and Legal Observers Update

Matt and Skye have accomplished a lot since they started with us a year ago. Both our MDC and LO Program are more organized than ever before.  Thanks to our LOs, activists know that we are keeping an eye on the police during actions, and that we can help protect their rights. Also, when activists are arrested for their activism, they can count on the MDC to have their backs.

Here are some quick facts about the programs:

Legal Observer Program

  • NLG-Chicago had Legal Observers at 50+ actions in 2017
  • This work is made possible by 100’s of volunteers coordinated by 10 attorneys.
  • Thanks to Skye’s efforts, more coordinating attorneys are being recruited to increase LO capacity.
  • Each year the NLG-Chicago spends roughly:
    • $300 on LO hats
    • $350 to train new LOs
    • $5200 on staff

In March 2017, Guild attorneys helped drop the charges of 15 #stopITOA and 5 #noDAPL activists.

Mass Defense Committee

  • NLG-Chicago lawyers represented 36 people arrested in 2017
  • Each year the NLG-Chicago spends $5200 on staff to coordinate clients and volunteer attorneys.

Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle, of the Mental Health Movement, had this to say about our LOs and MDC:

My name is Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle, and I was represented by the NLG after several arrests that took place as a result of our many actions of civil disobedience to try to stop Rahm Emanuel from closing half of Chicago’s public mental health clinics. Having an NLG lawyer, not just for me but for the 50+ others who took arrests throughout that effort, was indispensable. Knowing we could count on the NLG gave us more confidence to do what we knew had to be done to draw attention to the injustice of those clinic closures and do everything possible to stop them. More importantly, the NLG listened to us and our desire to use our own legal proceedings to put the city’s inhumane policies on trial. It is rare to find lawyers who are attuned both to the need to defend individual protesters so we can fight another day but also to help advance our organizing efforts  as we defend ourselves. The NLG does both well and I will be forever grateful to them.

Matt Ginsberg-Jaeckle (holding bullhorn) along with other activists/patients being arrested by CPD during a civil disobedience for the Mental Health Movement.

 

To help fund the MDC and the LO Program, donate here!

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JMLS Public Interest Career Panel

On March 27, the John Marshall National Lawyers Guild put together a panel of four attorneys from diverse public interest fields to discuss their practices and offer advice on navigating law school and developing a career as a people’s lawyer.

The speakers were:

Molly Armour

Criminal defense attorney at the Law Office of Molly Armour.

Emily Coffey

Housing justice attorney at the Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty Law.

andre douglas pond cummings

Visiting professor at The John Marshall Law School.

Samoane Williams

Policy director at Raise the Floor Alliance.

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NLG Lawyer Representing CAARPR Activist in Contempt Case

Long-time NLG Chicago member Jim Fennerty is representing Chicago Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression activist, Tyrone Williams, in his contempt case. Mr. Williams is the second CAARPR supporter who has been held in contempt by Gaughn for expressing himself inside the courtroom.

[The first person held in contempt] Bernal—who says his experience with Gaughan hasn’t deterred him from showing up for Van Dyke’s hearings—thinks the judge is wielding his power in this way due to the high-profile nature of those hearings. The irony, he notes, is that Laquan McDonald’s supporters are getting thrown in jail for courtroom disruptions while Van Dyke walks in and out of court a relatively free man.

“He gets to go home, he’s employed, and people who snap their fingers or say one word or grunt are facing these devastating consequences,” Bernal says. “We didn’t shoot anybody, we’re not a danger to anyone’s safety, but we’re suffering.”

You can read more on the story here:

https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2018/03/13/man-who-exclaimed-what-in-court-jailed-without-bail-during-jason-van-dyke-hearing-activists-say

These are some action steps that you can take to help Tyrone:

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Week Against Mass Incarceration at Kent College of Law

Between March 5 and 7, the Kent NLG student chapter hosted three events for the NLG Week Against Mass Incarceration.

On March 5, Kent put together a panel discussion about the Chicago gang database and how ICE is using it for immigration enforcement. Officially known as the Strategic Subject List (SSL), the gang database is a “predictive policing” tool that CPD uses to surveil and target black and brown communities. The content of this deeply flawed database is being shared with ICE, leading to arrests, detention, and deportation actions against Chicago residents.

Activists and lawyers from Organized Communities Against Deportations,The Roderick & Solange MacArthur Justice Center, and Heartland Alliance’s National Immigrant Justice Center, working in various capacities on this issue, shared their experience and insight.

For more background information on ICE’s use of the gang database (and the gang database in general), check out these articles:

https://www.themarshallproject.org/2017/08/28/how-ice-uses-secret-police-databases-to-arrest-immigrants

http://blackyouthproject.com/chicago-gang-database-deportation/

https://chicago.suntimes.com/chicago-politics/what-gets-people-on-watch-list-chicago-police-fought-to-keep-secret-watchdogs/

http://www.businessinsider.com/chicagos-experimental-policing-tool-is-hurting-people-2016-8

On March 6, Kent students organized a bake sale and raffle to raise $144 for Wilmer Catalan-Ramirez and his family. Mr. Catalan-Ramirez did not receive sufficient medical care for his gunshot wounds during his 10 months in detention following a warrant-less, and violent raid that left him with a broken shoulder on March 27, 2017. While he has been released after a long fight, he requires long-term medical care and therapy and cannot work to provide for his family. Mr. Catalan-Ramirez’s online fundraising is still active, if you didn’t get the chance to give please visit https://www.youcaring.com/wilmercatalanramirezandhisfamily-1075617

For March 7, Kent Students had First Defense Legal Aid give a training on station house defense. Law students and graduates eligible for a 711 license were trained to provide direct legal representation to clients in police custody all over Chicago for the period before a public defender is available.

Station house defense is a unique volunteer experience, and is part of the movement for police accountability, and helps protect Chicago residents from coercive police tactics. FDLA sponsored law students and graduates who are eligible for a 711 license, and applications were provided at the training.

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JMLS Chapter Host Day Against Mass Incarceration and Deportation

On Saturday February 24, the John Marshall Law School chapter of the National Lawyers Guild hosted a day of panel discussions concerning the fight against mass incarceration and deportation. This event was part of the National Lawyers Guild’s Week Against Mass Incarceration, during which NLG law school and local chapters across the nation organize interactive workshops, community discussions, film screenings, tabling, letter writing campaigns, banner drops, visits to incarcerated youth, and panels on topics such as solitary confinement, school to prison pipeline, immigration detention, transformative justice, and alternatives to incarceration.

You can check out the schedule for JMLS’ event below:

The NLG platform calls for “the dismantling and abolition of all prisons and of all aspects of systems and institutions that support, condone, create, fill, or protect prisons.” The 2018 theme is the intersection of mass incarceration and immigration detention and deportation.

The Guild is currently engaged in unique and innovative efforts nationwide to alleviate some of the harm inflicted by the prison-industrial complex and immigration regime. The National Immigration Project of the National Lawyers Guild (NIPNLG) is a national non-profit organization that provides technical assistance and support to community-based immigrant organizations, legal practitioners, and all advocates seeking and working to advance the rights of non-citizens. NIPNLG promotes justice and equality of treatment in all areas of immigration law, the criminal justice system, and policies related to immigration. For 46 years, the National Immigration Project has served as a progressive source of advocacy-oriented legal support on issues critical to immigrant rights.

Other NLG initiatives include the NLG-NYC Parole Preparation Project, the NLG Bay Area Prisoner Advocacy Network, the NLG NJ-DE Prisoner Legal Advocacy Network, and the Guild Notes column, “Beyond Bars: Voices from NLG Jailhouse Lawyers”.  NLG Mass Incarceration Committee and Prison Law Project volunteers respond to jailhouse lawyer members’ letters and send out our Jailhouse Lawyer Manual on an ongoing basis. The NLG Political Prisoner Support Committee provides legal support for and connects Guild members with political prisoners. NLG members are involved in various initiatives opposing policing, criminalization, solitary confinement, the drug war, capital punishment, and new prison construction. The Guild also supported the 2016 National Prison Strike and has been working to  investigate and challenge deplorable conditions in numerous Texas Department of Criminal Justice prison facilities in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey.

To learn more about incarcerated Guild members, their concerns, and more resources on prison litigation and organizing, please check out the NLG Jailhouse Lawyer website.

 

Resources

Punishment and Policing in the Trump Era

Immigration Guide to How Arrests and Convictions Separate Families

Immigration and Mass Incarceration

Immigration Policy and Planning in the Era of Mass Incarceration

Mass Incarceration and Immigrant Detention

Fact-sheet: Immigrant Detention and Mass Incarceration

Struggles of Using Legal Recourse as a Path Toward Better Prison Conditions

Following the Money of Mass Incarceration

Prison Abolition Syllabus

Are Prisons Obsolete?

Corrections Project PIC Poster

Transforming Carceral Logic

Reasons for Penal Abolition

Joint Statement of Incite! and Critical Resistance

Incarcerated Workers Take The Lead

Documentaries

Broken on All Sides

Visions of Abolition

The 13th

“Prisons do not disappear problems, they disappear human beings.” -Angela Y. Davis

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All Chapter Meeting Rallies Guild Members

On Thursday February 22, the National Lawyers Guild – Chicago hosted an all chapter meeting to bring together all of its members and people interested in becoming members for a night to meet, socialize, and organize. There were interactive subcommittee breakout sessions, networking, and involvement opportunities as well as discussion on strengthening legal support for Chicago’s movements in 2018.

The meeting was also held to present the board’s initiative of developing a strategic plan on growing the chapter, strengthening our current committees and programs, and expanding the work that the chapter does. A forum was held for the membership to discuss a vote on important changes to the Guild.

We appreciate all of the members and prospects who attended the event!

Here are some pictures:

Contact

637 S. Dearborn St., 3rd Floor
Chicago, IL 60605

(773) 492-1405
chicago[@]nlg.org