FAMM

Chicagoland — join us next Wednesday, September 30! 📍

FAMM, in partnership with Illinois State Representative Kevin Olickal, invites you to a screening of the Oscar-nominated documentary The Alabama Solution, followed by a panel discussion on the importance of independent prison oversight.

If you’re in the Chicagoland area, we’d love to have you join us for the screening and the conversation that follows.

🔗 REGISTER THROUGH THE LINK IN OUR BIO.

FAMM Celebrates 35 Years!🥳🎊Fitting 35 years of milestones, hard-fought wins, and community into one video was nearly impossible — but we sure tried! Take a few minutes to watch, celebrate, and soak in some inspiration. When the work feels daunting or that boulder feels too heavy to push, let this be your reminder: Real change happens, victories are real, and together, we make them possible.🧡

Lockdowns are inhumane and can be dangerous. They happen far too often in our nation's prisons, and it's time to push back. Text JOIN to 40419 and learn about FAMM's Life on Lockdown campaign and how you can help.

Since 1998, Illinois has excluded too many people in our incarcerated population from good time and earnable sentence credits. It is time to extend eligibility for these credits back to the majority of people in Illinois prisons so that rehabilitation is centered in our correctional system.

These incentives consistently lead to safer prisons, safer communities, and more cost-effective correctional systems. It is time to embrace Credit for Change!

Joseph Sprague took accountability for his actions—but under the law at the time, multiple fi***rm charges under §924(c) could be “stacked” in the same case, adding mandatory consecutive 25-year sentences even for a first-time defendant.

The First Step Act of 2018 ended this form of mandatory §924(c) stacking for first-time defendants going forward, but Congress did not make the reform retroactive. The law also expanded who could petition a court for compassionate release, creating a path for people like Joseph to ask a judge to reconsider an unusually long sentence.

Joseph found that path home. But this May, the Supreme Court ruled that the sentencing disparity created by the First Step Act’s nonretroactive reforms cannot itself serve as a basis for compassionate release. Had Joseph waited to bring the same kind of claim, he would likely still be stuck in prison today.

People Joseph left behind are still serving sentences under a stacking practice Congress has already changed. That is why Congress must act and make the §924(c) reform retroactive.

Retroactivity would not guarantee anyone’s release—it would give people sentenced under the old law an opportunity to have their individual cases reviewed. When sentencing practices change because the old practices were fundamentally unjust, people should have the opportunity to benefit from those changes.

Text JOIN to 40419 to stand with FAMM and advocate for second chances.