The John Howard Association of Illinois is a (501) (c) (3) non-profit organization incorporated in Illinois. It was founded in 1901 by reform-minded business and legal leaders concerned about the harshness of incarceration and sentencing. In the intervening decades it created programs to assist defendants in Chicago’s criminal courts, developed visiting programs for police lock-ups, jails, juvenile facilities and state prisons, promoted reforms such as separation of juveniles from adult offenders in jail and improved treatment of incarcerated women, and investigated abuses in all levels of correctional institutions.
In the 1980’s and 1990’s its staff developed an expertise in corrections to the extent that its staff consulted across the country for local, state, and the federal government. In recent years, it has focused on sentencing and the conditions of confinement for men, women and juveniles in Illinois’s jails, prisons and juvenile facilities. The Association is one of three state organizations nationwide that visits correctional institutions and is unique for the access it is given to Illinois correctional facilities.
The organization and its staff serve as Monitors appointed by the federal courts in litigation involving the Cook County Jail and the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center. It draws upon the insights of its volunteer visitors, staff and consultants to develop recommendations for correctional institutions, policy statements, and reports intended to inform the public about sentencing and corrections issues in Illinois.
The John Howard Association of Illinois holds one Annual Meeting each year, attended by volunteers, members, supporting organizations and law firms, business leaders, and court and correctional professionals. Board of Directors and Advisory Committee The John Howard Association of Illinois is governed by its Board of Directors and assisted in its work by members of an Advisory Committee. The Board is accepting nominations to the Board of Directors in January 2007 for election to the Board in the first calendar quarter of 2007. For a roster of our Current Board members, officers, and members of the Advisory Committee, click here.
Staff and Lead Consultants
Malcolm C. Young, Executive Director
Mr. Young began his career as a criminal defense attorney in Chicago in 1974, leaving for Washington D. C. in 1980. There, he worked for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association until 1984, focusing on sentencing advocacy in criminal courts. In 1986 he founded The Sentencing Project to promote alternatives to incarceration and reforms in sentencing law and practice. The Sentencing Project evolved into a highly regarded national leader on sentencing research, advocacy, and reform. Mr. Young returned to Chicago when he assumed his current position at the John Howard Association of Illinois.
Malcolm can be reached at myoung@john-howard.org.
Charles A. Fasano, Director, Prison and Jails Program
Mr. Fasano is Director of the Prisons and Jails Program of the John Howard Association (JHA), a private, not-for-profit agency working for prison and jail reform since 1901. Since 1988, he has been responsible for monitoring conditions throughout the Illinois Department of Corrections (26-28 adult prisons, 3 boot camps, and 8 juvenile facilities), the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, and the Cook County Department of Corrections (CCDOC), which JHA monitors for the U. S. District Court in Duran v. Sheahan et al., a class-action lawsuit regarding crowding and conditions of confinement that began in 1974, and other correctional facilities. Mr. Fasano also serves as a court-appointed expert in Harrington v. Sheahan et al., a federal class-action suit regarding mental health care at CCDOC. Most recently, Mr. Fasano is also a court-appointed monitor in Doe v. Cook County et al., the federal class-action conditions case involving the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.
Other professional experience includes: two (2) years as Director of Accreditation for the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, inspecting more than 50 jails, prisons, and juvenile facilities in more than 20 states; and, seven (7) years as Director of Human Services/Chief Ombudsman at the Cook County Department of Corrections. Mr. Fasano is an Adjunct Instructor in the Justice Studies Department at Northeastern Illinois University and previously in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has inspected more than 90 correctional institutions in 12 states; in addition, he has published articles in several professional journals, served as an expert witness in individual and class-action lawsuits, and taught and lectured extensively. He has served as a member of Institutional Review Boards for the Cook County Bureau of Health Services and the University of Chicago Division of Biological Sciences & Hospitals.
Charlie can be reached at charlie@john-howard.org.
Shaena Fazal, Director, Long Term Prisoner Policy Project (LT3P)
Shaena Fazal is the co-founder and Director of the Long-Term Prisoner Policy Project and a Soros Justice Advocacy Fellow. In this position, she advocates for humane treatment of long-term prisoners, works to renew the public's commitment to rehabilitation, and focuses on changing policies that have resulted in the warehousing of long-term prisoners. Ms. Fazal established this project when she witnessed the inhumane treatment of long term prisoners in Illinois prisons through representing indigent defendants on appeal in capital and non-capital cases. Prior to her current position, she was an Assistant Appellate Defender for the Office of the State Appellate Defender and a Constituent Advocate for Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.
In 1997, Ms. Fazal earned a dual bachelor's degree in Black World Studies and Sociology from Miami University. To complete her degree in Black World Studies, she studied abroad in Ghana. She obtained her Juris Doctor in 2000 from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. She is a volunteer teacher at St. Leonard's Adult High School, tutors students through the Minority Legal Education Resources, and represents pro bono clients at parole hearings and in post-conviction proceedings. Ms. Fazal is also General Counsel for the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and is the Secretary of the Illinois State Bar Association's Standing Committee on Corrections and Sentencing. She is one of 14 women in the state who was selected to participate in the Illinois Women's Institute for Leadership, a training program for Democratic women who are considered potential leaders in state public affairs.
On November 16, 2006, Shaena was awarded the Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Public Interest Award from her alma mater, Chicago Kent School of Law, for her work on behalf of long term prisoners.
Shaena can be reached at shaena@john-howard.org.
James “Yaki” Sayles, Program Coordinator
James Sayles is the Program Coordinator for the John Howard Association of Illinois. Prior to his employment with the John Howard Association, Mr. Sayles worked as a Research Assistant for Professor Leonard Rubinowitz, and as a Teaching Assistant for a class on Prisons and Prisoners’ Rights, both at the Northwestern University School of Law. Actively involved in current legal research and paralegal duties, he is also a member of the Campaign in Support of C# Prisoners, seeking fairness and objective parole criteria for prisoners convicted under Illinois’ old indeterminate sentencing structure and philosophy. He is active in community outreach and education, and has spoken on his prison experience to several groups of grade-school children as part of Chicago’s After School Matters program. Mr. Sayles served over 33 and one-half years in the Illinois Department of Corrections. While incarcerated, he worked as a Law Library Clerk, participated in several successful class action civil suits to improve prison conditions, and drafted legislation regarding C#prisoners that was introduced into both houses of the Illinois General Assembly.
James (or Yaki) can be reached at yaki@john-howard.org.
Lead Consultant : Patricia Connell, Juvenile Justice
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