Areas of work
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Dare to Struggle Chicago x Cook County Jail
A summation of the struggle at CCJ – Nov 2024 to Dec 2025 Why Cook County Jail? Cook County Jail (CCJ) is the largest single site jail in the country (96 acres spanning eight city blocks). Holding anywhere between 5,000-6,000 inmates on any given…
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Burke and Snelling celebrate gun felony program, while people are forced to arm themselves for their own protection
On November 21st, Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen Burke gleefully announced the city-wide expansion of the Felony Review bypass program. Originally a pilot program launched in the predominantly Black Englewood and Calumet districts, the program allows CPD to directly file felony gun possession charges…
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Notes on O22 from Inside CCJ
A letter from participants of the October 22nd National Day of Protest Against Police Brutality inside Cook County Jail When we dare to struggle, we dare to win, and we either STAND for something of FALL for anything. To all the men and women…
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Free Adrian Rucker
The following is a letter from 25-year-old Adrian Rucker, the young man arrested “in connection” to the June 5th killing of CPD officer Krystal Rivera, with minor grammatical edits. Rivera was shot from behind by her partner, Carlos Baker, a Chicago cop with a…
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Protest Sheriff Tom Dart 9/23
Protest Sherriff Tom Dart’s speech at City Club Chicago! Tell him how you really feel! Tuesday, September 23rd, at 11AM at 111 W Grand Ave Chicago IL In June, Dare to Struggle stood alongside side families and inmates to hold a people’s trial against…
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Rinse & Repeat
Why reforms can be unreformed in the talk shop of legislative politics On August 22nd, the Chicago Sun-Times published an article citing the reversals of six high-profile misconduct rulings enacted by the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA). In all but two cases, COPA…
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OVER 6,000 CHECK-INS AT HOTEL CALIFORNIA
Cook County State’s Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke’s sadist mission to expedite detention at Cook County Jail and swell the mass incarceration machine On August 4th, the Illinois Network for Pretrial Justice released a report stating that the number of incarcerated persons at Cook County…
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“They called J-Unit the Jungle”: What Women Endure at a Pennsylvania State Prison
The following contains descriptions of sexual assault of women in prisons. In 2015, a woman incarcerated at SCI-Muncy, a women’s state prison in central Pennsylvania, spoke out about multiple instances of a prison doctor raping her. In the first instance, Donald James Stone, who…
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Cracks at Hotel California Issue #7 – Black August
Commemorate Black August 2025 at Cook County Jail! Black August (BA) is a commemorative month which recognizes the sacrifices and struggles of Black people in the ongoing fight for freedom and real liberation from the American nightmare. It’s a month-long observance for reflection, study,…
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FREE VINCENT HILL!
A letter from Vincent from inside Cook County Jail Hello My Name is Vincent Hill. I recently received a newsletter from Dare to Struggle. Thank you for taking time out your day to reach out to me, as I’m eager to tell my story…
Dare to Struggle 