By Community
For Community
In Community

The Illinois Alliance for Reentry & Justice is building the future of care and accountability — without cages.

Act Now

Get Updates

Featured

May 9

May 9, 2026

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM18:00 – 21:006:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Paint & Power

May 9, 2026

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM18:00 – 21:006:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Bring your mom or loved ones to Walls Turned Sideways this Saturday! We're so excited to have Benny leading everyone in this moment of learning and creating. Together, we will learn how housing justice can involve community in ways that makes everyone safer and healthier.

May 9, 2026

6:00 PM – 9:00 PM18:00 – 21:006:00 PM – 9:00 PM

Resources for families

Accessible Infinite Gallery

Avalon Betts-Gaston speaking at a press conference, surrounded by people, some wearing sunglasses, outdoors with green trees in the background.

Who we are

ILARJ champions the belief that preventing system involvement altogether is the most effective form of reentry — resulting in our maxim: “No entry is the best form of reentry.” We recognize that true public safety is rooted in the health and well-being of communities, particularly those disproportionately impacted by criminalization and incarceration.

A young woman with curly dark hair and a nose ring is speaking into a microphone behind a wooden podium outdoors, with a brick building and a sign in the background.

A group of diverse people gathered outdoors, sitting closely together, with some looking down and others engaged in an activity. The background shows a stone wall and a table with items on it.

Our mission is to accelerate the transformative realignment of power and accountability to reimagine and remake justice. Through collaboration with a diverse array of partners, including currently and formerly incarcerated individuals, nonprofits, service providers, legal professionals, and advocates, we address the pressing issues facing our community from all angles — embodying participatory democracy models and collectively creating MLK’s "Beloved Community."

A group of people speaking at a press conference outdoors, with microphones from various news organizations in front of them.

A man speaking at a press conference outdoors, surrounded by people holding signs and banners, with some wearing sunglasses and formal clothing, and microphones in front of him.

A man sitting at a glass table reading a notebook, with a colorful sign in the background that says 'Chicago Votes' with a checkmark.

A man wearing a white T-shirt with red and blue text, standing at a podium outdoors. Behind him, there are posters and a brick wall with a window. The scene appears to be part of a public event or demonstration.

A young man with dark hair and light skin holding an open book and a foil-wrapped food item, standing outdoors in front of a colorful graffiti mural with green plants nearby.

Three women sitting on a bench outdoors, enjoying the sunlight. The elderly woman in front is holding a cocktail glass, wearing a floral dress, and has long, curly gray hair. The woman in the middle is wearing sunglasses, a black t-shirt with white lettering, and has dark brown hair. The young woman at the back has dark skin, glasses, earrings, a white top, and is holding a snack wrapped in foil.

Redefining Reentry

Reentry must center the social determinants of health that lead to incarceration to begin with.

LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR WORK

Ending mass incarceration requires ending incarceration.

Activate Power Across the bars

We activate the power of incarcerated persons and communities to make change together.

SEE HOW WE'RE ACHIEVING THIS

Every person is capable of inspiring growth and change.

Building Judicial Accountability

The courts are inaccessible for communities. We’re building systems to make co-governance possible.

LEARN ABOUT COURTWATCHING

Our system needlessly takes countless years from people’s lives.

A person wearing a black mask and glasses holding a cardboard sign with handwritten words, standing in front of a fountain in a park. There are other people partially visible nearby.

By community

Too often, outside interference disrupts community-driven solutions, serving little to nothing to fix the problems experienced on-the-ground. That’s why we’re committed to ensure that solutions developed By Community are at the front of the line, so that they may work For Community.

A large group of diverse people gathered outdoors, participating in a public event or rally, with some wearing sunglasses, hats, and shirts with messages, and holding signs and flags.

For community

We are intentional about centering community experts in the solutionmaking and implementation process. When it comes to the criminal legal system, these experts are Black people who have been disproportionately criminalized by that system. When we do not include community experts in this process, solutions get stuck in theories rather than action.

Three men standing outdoors under a large leafy tree, with a fence in the background. One man is wearing a white T-shirt with red and black writing, another in a yellow shirt, and the third in a white shirt with a gray blazer.

People gathered in front of a wall with the American flag and historical figures, during a patriotic event.

IN community

We work against the patriarchal, top-down siloes too often seen in policy and advocacy by focusing on cohesion and horizontal networking. Imagining, dismantling, and building together in community is the only sustainable path towards abolition.