NLG CHICAGO

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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:

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NLG Chicago Condemns Edmund Burke Society’s Racist Rhetoric

On January 30th, the Edmund Burke Society at the University of Chicago Law School released an event promotion for an immigration debate to be held Tuesday, February 6th, at 7:30pm at Ida Noyes Hall on UChicago’s campus.

In promoting its “debate”, the organization trivialized the issue and mocked people who are directly impacted by immigration policy. The Society called immigrants “other nations’ wretched refuse”, “Chinese entrepreneurs pursuing Fortune’s cookie,” and posited that “no engineer is worth the drag of a freeloading cousin.” Even in representing an ostensibly pro-immigrant stance, the flier’s authors ask, “[W]ithout foreign labor and grit, who will build the wall?”

The Edmund Burke Society’s event promotion denigrates and dehumanizes immigrants everywhere. Instead of opening a meaningful dialogue, it legitimizes the racist and xenophobic ideals we have seen rise to power in the past year. As institutions of education, law schools should fuel inclusion and serious conversation, not host racist and demeaning rhetoric.

The National Lawyers’ Guild – Chicago Chapter stands with immigrants unconditionally. This abhorrent rhetoric is exactly what the NLG, in Chicago and across the nation, has fought against since its inception. We condemn the Edmund Burke Society’s rhetoric in the strongest terms possible and encourage our members to stand up against hateful speech wherever they encounter it.

Contact

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

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