Announcement about Chicago Community Jail Support (8/13/23)

I have been volunteering for Chicago Community Jail Support for 2 and a half years.

The work itself started in the summer of 2020. people were getting arrested in the protests about George Floyd’s killing. As activists provided waiting outside cook county jail to offer support to those who had been arrested, they saw that jail support was an ongoing need in the community, and the work began.

This is a truly horizontal grassroots mutual aid project.

Every day, volunteers stand outside of the jail, and provide hospitality, kindness, and aid to folks who are being released as well as their families and friends who are waiting for them. We offer water, snacks, phone calls, coats, cigarettes, warming stations and sometimes rides or housing support to people as they get out.

The jail doesn’t seem to care about people at all. I’ve seen people come out into the cold winters without coats or even long sleeves. I’ve seen people who haven’t eaten or had water all day. Very often people don’t have a phone or a ride home, and so just sharing our own phones for a phone call to a loved one is the most essential service we provide. Sometimes folks don’t have a home to go to, and we try to help these people too. I’ll never forget the night that I met a man who was addicted to heroin, who was high when he was arrested, was in withdrawal when they let him out, and was fiending but determined to quit. It was a Saturday and everything was closed so we helped him stay housed until he could enter rehab. He made it through the weekend, with our support, and he is clean to this day.

This is essential work happening in our community, and i am convinced it saves lives. Thank you so much for any financial support you can offer.