Re-Entry Committee

In September 2006, Andrea Hall was hired to organize ex-offenders, many of whom struggle with homelessness and employment barriers. Andrea Hall has a personal connection with people who are homeless. As she wrote in her CCH orientation paper:

“Homelessness and housing have always been a concern for me. Not only because I want to fight for the human right to housing, but also because I experienced being homeless firsthand. Raised by a single Jamaican mother, I was considered a highly mobile child, moving from place to place or with friend to friend, living in a shelter as early as 5 years old and as late as age 15. At the time, I really didn’t understand why this was happening to us, but as I became older I realized that there were certain issues and barriers that came in the way of our stability.”

The Re-Entry Committee includes people who were formerly incarcerated, service providers, lawyers, educators, and advocates who work on addressing barriers and developing policy for those coming out of prison. Leaders on the committee include Johnnie Lee Savory, 45, who was paroled in December 2005, freed after Northwestern University’s Center on Wrongful Convictions worked to overturn his 1977 conviction. Johnnie was 14 when he confessed after being questioned by Peoria police for two days without a lawyer or his parents.

“I like everything in the fight against injustice,” Johnny said, when asked why he works as a CCH leader.

A Year of Successes

During the 2007 legislative session, the Re-Entry Committee took 10 trips to Springfield with leaders to advocate for two key initatives: First Offender Probration and the Smart Act. The SMART Act (House Bill 2734) creates county-run drug diversion schools for people charged with low-level drug offenses. Re-entry leaders also helped convince legislators to enact First Offender Probation (Senate Bill 75), which will allow judges to offer probation, with rehab services, instead of incarceration for people charged with felony prostitution -- a charge that is possible after just two misdemeanor convictions.

To find out more about the Re-Entry Committee, please contact Drea Hall.