Alex Keefe

1 week ago | chicago.suntimes.com | Alex Keefe

For Shafiq, inside Sheridan Correctional Center, being a good dad while incarcerated means lots of emails and phone calls. “Never underestimate the value of your presence in the lives of your off-spring,” he writes. “We are physically absent, but that does NOT preclude our being present in all the other ways that matter.”Alexia Pitter, whose father has been locked up since she was 3, says “loving someone who is incarcerated means loving beyond the physical barriers of prison walls.

2 weeks ago | wbez.org | Alex Keefe

For Shafiq, inside Sheridan Correctional Center, being a good dad while incarcerated means lots of emails and phone calls. “Never underestimate the value of your presence in the lives of your off-spring,” he writes. “We are physically absent, but that does NOT preclude our being present in all the other ways that matter.”Alexia Pitter, whose father has been locked up since she was 3, says “loving someone who is incarcerated means loving beyond the physical barriers of prison walls.

Mar 30, 2025 | wbez.org | Alex Keefe

For Joseph, locked inside Menard Correctional Center, it sounds like “peace and quiet and not hearing keys jingle all day.”For Carrie, in Logan women’s prison, it’s gratitude for “rain falling on my forehead and grass between my toes.”But when we asked hundreds of people in Illinois prisons and jails how they define “rehabilitation” – which is supposed to be a core tenet of Illinois’ criminal justice system – many more responded like Stacy Erica, inside Illinois River Correctional Center.

Mar 28, 2025 | ourcommunitynow.com | Alex Keefe

For Joseph, locked inside Menard Correctional Center, it sounds like “peace and quiet and not hearing keys jingle all day.” For Carrie, in Logan women’s prison, it’s gratitude for “rain falling on my forehead and grass between my toes.” But when we asked hundreds of people in Illinois prisons and jails how they define “rehabilitation” – which is supposed to be a core tenet of Illinois’ criminal justice system – many more responded like Stacy Erica, inside Illinois River Correctional Center.

Mar 28, 2025 | wbez.org | Alex Keefe

For Joseph, locked inside Menard Correctional Center, it sounds like “peace and quiet and not hearing keys jingle all day.”For Carrie, in Logan women’s prison, it’s gratitude for “rain falling on my forehead and grass between my toes.”But when we asked hundreds of people in Illinois prisons and jails how they define “rehabilitation” – which is supposed to be a core tenet of Illinois’ criminal justice system – many more responded like Stacy Erica, inside Illinois River Correctional Center.