Since 1998, Illinois has denied thousands of people the right to Day-for-Day goodtime credits, contributing greatly to mass incarceration in this state and the perpetuation of an unjust system. If passed, House Bill 5219 would eliminate the provisions requiring people to serve extreme percentages of their sentences. It would give everyone the right to earn Day-for-Day goodtime (currently nearly half of people in prison are denied these credits). It would also provide equal opportunities for all incarcerated individuals to earn good conduct credits for participating in work, education, and other programming.

Overall, this would encourage all incarcerated men and women to take advantage of rehabilitative programming and allow the Illinois Department of Corrections' administrators the ability to better manage its prisons. Additionally, HB5219 would provide people sentenced to Life-Without-Parole the opportunity to accumulate goodtime credits in case they ever receive a sentence reduction to a term of years either through the courts or via clemency.

Currently, there are thousands of people in the IDOC who are diligently rehabilitating themselves, while Illinois refuses to acknowledge their efforts. Show your support for passing HB5219 by raising your concerns with your state legislators with just a few clicks.