Helping end mass incarceration
Help us reunite families torn apart by incarceration.
Nearly 30,000 people are incarcerated across Illinois — many serving extraordinarily long sentences with no legal pathway home.
Illinois' criminal legal system is built on punishment, not redemption. It makes no room for compassion or recognition that people change and grow. The result: unthinkable moral and financial costs for individuals, families, and communities.
We're fighting to change that.
Since 2019, Illinois Prison Project has brought 194 people home — sparing them 2,243 unnecessary years in prison and saving taxpayers over $263 million.
Your gift funds:
- Direct legal representation for people serving excessive and unjust sentences
- Policy reform that creates pathways out of prison
- Training to help formerly incarcerated people educate the public about the harms of mass incarceration
- Free legal clinics and resources for families navigating the system
We've helped pass game-changing legislation, including creating Illinois' first compassionate release program for dying and disabled people in prison. We continue to advocate for new legal mechanisms that will give thousands of incarcerated people the second chance they deserve. Most importantly, we’ve brought more freedom to more people, families, and communities across Illinois.
But thousands more are still waiting.
Your donation today helps us move another heart, change another law, and bring another person home.
If you would like to donate by mail, please make your check or money order out to "Illinois Prison Project" and mail it to:
Illinois Prison Project
ATTN: Shana East
53 W. Jackson Blvd., Suite 452
Chicago, IL 60604
To donate via ACH / wire transfer, or to make a gift of stock: please contact IPP Development Manager Shana East via email at shana@illinoisprisonproject.org. Always be sure to reach out when making a gift via ACH / wire transfer or a gift of stock in order to ensure timely processing.
Other ways to give:
- Multi-year pledges
- In-kind donations
- Host a fundraiser (online or in-person)
- Matching gifts
- Many employers will match charitable gifts made by their employees. Please reach out to your company's Human Resources department to find out if they have a matching gift program!
**If you have questions about making a gift of any kind to IPP, please don't hesitate to reach out to Development Manager Shana East via email at shana@illinoisprisonproject.org or by phone at (312) 324-4463 x811.**