Morley

Four Illinois Sheriff’s Offices Ignored Sanctuary Laws by Transferring People Into Federal Custody, AG Report Finds Four Illinois sheriff’s offices defied the state’s sanctuary laws and transferred individuals into Department of Homeland Security custody in 2024, according to a new report.

NEW: Four Illinois sheriff's offices defied state sanctuary law by transferring people into DHS custody in 2024. That, according to a report released from the IL AG on Dec 23. news.wttw.com/2026/01/08/f...

a year of news night!

Mouse Arts and Letters Club

In January, my partner, friends and I will be opening up a cultural club in an old bank in Bridgeport: the Mouse Arts and Letters Club. We'll host News Night, a citywide newsroom, screenings, translation + ecology events & more. We'd love you to join us. Sign up for updates: mouseartsandletters.org

a year of news nights! november 13!

Despite Illinois Sanctuary Laws, At Least 17 County Sheriffs Have Contracts to Hold People in ICE Custody To ascertain if county jails are complying with the state’s TRUST Act, WTTW News sent Freedom of Information Act requests to each of the 90 county jails in Illinois to obtain copies of intergovernment...

NEW: I found 17 sheriffs in Illinois that have contracts to detain people for ICE through U.S. Marshals Service contracts. IL law explicitly prohibits these types of intergovernmental service agreements. news.wttw.com/2025/10/22/d...

How a Chicago Artist Turned Jail Bars Into an Instrument As the nearly 100-year-old Cook County Jail dormitories were demolished in 2021, artist Maria Gaspar was able to salvage 18 cell bars and a couple of bricks.

I spoke with Maria Gaspar, who collected bars from demolished Cook County Jail cells and turned them into a xylophone. news.wttw.com/2025/07/24/h...

The Prison Conference Money Shower | Morley Musick Each of these classification rooms was decorated with an astonishing density of Disney paraphernalia. Men with grief-lined faces sat in front of Mickey Mouse reliquaries, mini princess figurines arran...

Each classification room in the prison was decorated with an astonishing density of Disney paraphernalia. Men with grief-lined faces sat in front of Mickey Mouse reliquaries, mini princess figurines arranged in rainbow tiers on top of metal cabinets.
www.nplusonemag.com/online-only/...

The Median Time in Restrictive Housing in Illinois Prisons is 1 Week. But Some Assigned More Than 600 Days Many who’ve been through restrictive housing attest to extreme isolation and confinement in small, dark, windowless cells. Phone and tablet use can be restricted. Yard or outside time is limited.

The Median Time in Restrictive Housing in Illinois Prisons is 1 Week. But Some Assigned More Than 600 Days
news.wttw.com/2025/07/15/m...

I wrote a dispatch for @nplusonemag.com about attending a corrections conference in Orlando while violently ill. The prison I saw was filled with Disney paraphernalia.

I make heavy use of @blairpaddock.bsky.social 's previous reporting (www.thenation.com/article/soci...).

News night promo poster woth turnips and carrots surrounding Text that read Thursday June 5th, 7pm 1048 w 37th St, Kate Wagner with the nation, Nik Hunder with a city that works, Carlos ballesteros with injustice watch, Emeline Posner with investigative project on race and Equity

Come hear me talk about my job as an architecture critic and the role of politics in imagining a better future! (along with some really fantastic journos and writers working more deeply in city planning and local Chicago politics!

Illinois State Police Keeps Data on Suspected Gang Members. ICE Has Access According to agreements obtained by WTTW News, the Illinois State Police has shared data with ICE through its statewide computer system since 2008, including criminal history data and its gang member ...

NEW: Illinois State Police keeps a gang database. ICE has access to it. This, despite the state's TRUST Act prohibiting data sharing agreements between the two. news.wttw.com/2025/06/02/i...

‘Egregious Delays’ and No Attorney Assistance: How Those Incarcerated Fight Their Convictions Every year, incarcerated people in Illinois file post-conviction petitions, compiling evidence of police misconduct, violations of constitutional rights or claims of actual innocence. It’s a vital too...

NEW: Post-conviction petitions are a vital resource for those incarcerated alleging injustice. But those filing don't have the right to an attorney and face "egregious" delays -- some cases taking a decade. news.wttw.com/2025/05/27/e...

Global Conjuncture w/ Ilias Alami and Tim Sahay Featuring Ilias Alami and Tim Sahay on a global conjuncture defined by Washington’s shredding of the liberal international order’s legitimacy amid a panic over decline: the escalating Cold War with Ch...

Our world crisis of ecology, economics, and empire, has continued to metastasize. It is shaking confidence in established worldviews & ruling elites everywhere.

@iliasalami.bsky.social & @danieldenvir.bsky.social & I chatted about @thepolycrisis.bsky.social
thedigradio.com/podcast/glob...

Illinois Pitches Two New Prisons as a Way to Modernize and Address Aging Facilities. Some Advocates Aren’t Sold Illinois’ prison population continues to shrink, with facilities now having a 26% vacancy rate, leading some of those inside and their advocates to question the state’s plan to build two new prisons.

Illinois is pitching to build two new prisons for $900M. But some aren’t sold as the state is seeing a declining prison pop + bed vacancies. Instead, they see an opportunity to decarcerate + consolidate.
news.wttw.com/2025/03/10/i...

extreme cruelty

News Night #3!

Paper Mail Is Seen as a Source for Drugs in Illinois Prisons. How Is It Tracked? Correctional workers and Republican lawmakers have said exposure to synthetic cannabinoids in IDOC facilities has led to hospital visits and impacted prisons across the state. One man incarcerated at ...

Lawmakers + COs have called for a ban on a paper mail in IL prisons, being seen as a source of drugs. But it's unclear if that's the predominant way they're entering facilities. John Howard says there needs to be conversations on who they say main source is: staff. news.wttw.com/2025/02/03/p...