LETTER IN SUPPORT OF STRAWBERRY HAMPTON’S CLEMENCY PETITION
May 8, 2019
VIA EMAIL AND US MAIL
The Honorable J.B. Pritzker, Governor
The Honorable Juliana Stratton, Lt. Governor
Office of the Governor
James R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph, 16-100
Chicago, IL 60601
Re: Clemency for Deon Strawberry Hampton
Dear Governor Pritzker and Lt. Governor Stratton:
The undersigned write to urge you to immediately grant clemency to Strawberry
Hampton, a Black transgender woman in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections
(“IDOC”).1 On numerous occasions, Ms. Hampton endured sexual violence and harassment both
at the hands of correctional officers and as a result of correctional officers allowing (and
sometimes encouraging) people incarcerated with Ms. Hampton to assault her. When Ms.
Hampton reported this abuse, officers retaliated against her by writing her false disciplinary
tickets that resulted in her placement in prolonged solitary confinement. During this time, Ms.
Hampton was unable to earn good time. Additionally, throughout her incarceration, IDOC
officials prevented her from engaging in programming and work opportunities because they
claimed she would be a distraction to the men imprisoned with her. If correctional officers had
not imposed false disciplinary tickets on Ms. Hampton, she would have been at home with her
family in February 2019. If she had been allowed to earn good time through programming and
job opportunities, she could have been released from custody much sooner. Her current release
date is November 27, 2019.
In December 2018, Ms. Hampton won an important victory for trans-rights when a
federal judge recognized that the harassment and abuse she has experienced in IDOC custody
constituted a form of discrimination and that the IDOC’s practices related to housing trans
women were also unlawful. As a result of this decision, IDOC appears to be making some
progress in matters related to the housing of trans women. This happened as a result of Ms.
Hampton’s courage and her steadfast determination to reveal the truth about her life inside IDOC
facilities. Yet, she still remains behind bars directly as a result of the IDOC’s discriminatory
policies and practices.
As further explained in the attached Petition for Clemency, Ms. Hampton’s sentence has
been extended an additional nine months because she is a trans woman who spoke out about the
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A description of each undersigned organization can be found in the attached Appendix.
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 abuse and violence she suffered on a daily basis during her incarceration. Because she spoke out,
officers attempted to silence her, and in doing so extended her imprisonment. Please take
immediate action to correct this grave injustice and allow Ms. Hampton to be home with her
community so she can continue her leadership for the rights of trans people and survivors
everywhere. You campaigned on a promise to bring justice and equity to Illinois. Please make
good on that promise by granting clemency to Strawberry Hampton.
Sincerely,
Affinity Community Services
Black Lives Matter Chicago
Black Youth Project 100
Black Youth Project 100 Chicago
Business and Professional People for the Public Interest
Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
Chicago Community Bond Fund
Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network
Children and Family Justice Center
Community Renewal Society
Domestic Violence Legal Clinic
Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic at the University of Chicago Law School
Healing To Action
Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence
Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault
Indivisible Chicago
John Howard Association of Illinois
Lambda Legal
Life Span
LimeRed
Mijente
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People – Westside Branch
Resilience
She Votes Illinois
Social Change
The Voices and Faces Project
TransLife Care Program at Chicago House & Social Service Agency
Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois
Voices of Reason
Women’s March – Illinois
Cc: Deputy Governor Sol Flores, Deputy Governor Dan Hynes, Deputy Governor Christian
Mitchell, Deputy Governor Jesse Ruiz
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 APPENDIX
LIST OF ORGANIZATIONS
1. Affinity Community Services is a social justice organization serving the needs of the Black
LGBTQ community of Chicago with a particular focus on Black women. Affinity
Community Services envisions a society where being your authentic self is not a liability and
differences are fully embraced.
2. Black Lives Matter (“BLM”) Chicago is an organization that fights for justice with
families most impacted by race-based violence and marginalization of Black communities,
while working to create just and equitable systems. Black Lives Matter Chicago works to
end state violence and criminalization of Black communities by deconstructing the white
supremacist, capitalist patriarchy.
3. Black Youth Project 100 (“BYP100”) is a national member-based organization of Black
18- to 35-year-old activists and organizers. BYP100 is dedicated to creating justice and
freedom for all Black people. BYP100 does this work through building a network focused
on transformative leadership development, direct action organizing, advocacy, and political
education using a Black queer feminist lens.
4. Black Youth Project 100 (“BYP100”) Chicago is the Chicago chapter of BYP100.
5. Business and Professional People for the Public Interest (“BPI”) is an independent public
interest law and policy center that strives to resolve compelling issues of social justice and
quality of life in the Chicago region. Today BPI’s work is focused on housing and
community development, justice reform, public education, and political reform.
6. Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (“CAASE”) is a not-for profit organization
that envisions a community free from all forms of sexual exploitation, including sexual
assault and the commercial sex trade. CAASE addresses the culture, institutions, and
individuals that perpetrate, profit from, or support sexual exploitation. CAASE’s work
includes prevention, policy reform, community engagement, and legal services.
7. Chicago Coalition for the Homeless (“CCH”) is a non-profit organization dedicated to
advocating for public policies that curb and can ultimately end homelessness. CCH leads
strategic campaigns, community outreach, and public policy initiatives that target the lack of
affordable housing in metropolitan Chicago and across Illinois. In addition, CCH presses for
access to jobs, training, and public schools.
8. Chicago Community Bond Fund (“CCBF”) is an organization that pays bond for people
charged with crimes in Cook County, Illinois. Through a revolving fund, CCBF supports
individuals whose communities cannot afford to pay the bonds themselves and who have
been impacted by structural violence. CCBF also engages in public education about the role
of bond in the criminal legal system and advocates for the abolition of money bond.

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 9. Chicago Metropolitan Battered Women’s Network is a collaborative membership
organization dedicated to improving the lives of those impacted by domestic violence
through education, public policy and advocacy, and the connection of community members
to direct service providers. The Network envisions an end to our society’s tolerance of
domestic violence.
10. Children and Family Justice Center (“CFJC”) is a comprehensive children’s law office
and part of the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern Pritzker School of Law. At the CFJC,
attorneys and law students work together to promote justice for children, adolescents, and
their families through direct legal representation, policy advocacy, and law reform.
11. Community Renewal Society (“CRS”) is a progressive, faith-based organization that works
to eliminate race and class barriers. Founded in 1882, CRS informs, organizes, and trains
both communities and individuals to advocate for social and economic justice.
12. Domestic Violence Legal Clinic (“DVLC”) provides free civil legal assistance to lowincome individuals in Cook County. DVLC breaks the cycle of domestic violence, helping
survivors escape the isolation of abuse and regain control of their lives. DVLC’s holistic
advocacy combines emergency and long-term legal aid and ensures that survivors and their
children can escape and stay away from an abusive relationship.
13. Edwin F. Mandel Legal Aid Clinic is the clinical program of the University of Chicago
Law School. The Clinic specializes in the areas of criminal justice, civil rights, employment
discrimination, the rights of the mentally ill, and low-income housing development. The
Clinic engages in litigation, appellate advocacy, legislative advocacy, and community-based
advocacy and transactional work.
14. Healing To Action grew out of the Coalition Against Workplace Sexual Violence, a crossmovement collaboration between Chicago’s labor and anti-violence movements that started
in 2012. Healing to Action advances a worker-led movement to end gender violence and
envisions worker leaders creating safe, just workplaces and stable economic futures.
15. Illinois Coalition Against Domestic Violence (“ICADV”) is a statewide voice for survivors
of domestic violence and their children. With over 50 member organizations providing direct
service to survivors, ICADV works towards ending domestic violence in Illinois.
16. Illinois Coalition Against Sexual Assault (“ICASA”) is a not-for-profit corporation of 30
community-based sexual assault crisis centers working together to end sexual violence. Each
center provides 24-hour crisis intervention services, counseling, and advocacy for victims of
sexual assault and their significant others. Each center presents prevention education
programs in Illinois schools and communities.
17. Indivisible Chicago is a group of Chicago-area residents alarmed by the 2016 election and
committed to resisting the Trump agenda. Individual Chicago, inspired by the Indivisible
Guide, engages with public servants to create a just society by promoting progressive values
and grassroots engagement.
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 18. John Howard Association of Illinois (“JHA”) is a nonpartisan organization that
independently monitors correctional facilities, policies and practices, and advances reforms
needed to achieve a fair, humane, and effective criminal justice system. JHA’s vision for
Illinois is to achieve a smaller, rehabilitative criminal justice system that supports
incarcerated individuals so they may return to society as productive citizens.
19. Lambda Legal is the oldest and largest national legal organization whose mission is to
achieve full recognition of the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgender
people, and everyone living with HIV through impact litigation, education, and public policy
work.
20. Life Span provides comprehensive services for women and children, enabling them to live
without violence, build upon their strengths and become self-sufficient. By defining
domestic violence as a crime as well as a social problem, Life Span is committed to
providing victims of domestic violence and sexual assault a range of options, including legal
services, advocacy, and counseling.
21. LimeRed is a design firm committed to designing for social impact. LimeRed is a Certified
B Corporation and woman-owned business with over 15 years of experience designing
brands, business strategy, and digital products. Using immersive, empathetic, and structured
processes, LimeRed co-creates equitable, thought-provoking experiences to amplify
influence and impact social change.
22. Mijente is a national digital and grassroots hub for Latinx and Chicanx movement building
and organizing that seeks to increase the profile of policy issues that matter to its
communities and increase the participation of Latinx and Chicanx people in the broader
movements for racial, economic, climate, and gender justice.
23. National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (“NAACP”) – Westside
Branch is the NAACP’s Chicago-based branch on the West Side of the City. The NAACP
is a national civil rights, non-profit, membership organization whose mission is to ensure the
political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate
race-based discrimination. The elimination of racial prejudice among citizens, which would
include racially-motivated policing, is identified as one of the NAACP’s major objectives.
24. Resilience (formerly Rape Victim Advocates) is an independent, not-for-profit organization
dedicated to the healing and empowerment of sexual assault survivors through nonjudgmental crisis intervention counseling, individual and group trauma therapy, and medical
and legal advocacy in the greater Chicago metropolitan area. Resilience provides public
education and institutional advocacy in order to improve the treatment of sexual assault
survivors and to effect positive change in policies and public attitudes toward sexual assault.
25. She Votes Illinois is a statewide political action committee aimed at highlighting the
important of women’s voices in elections, government, and policymaking. She Votes
Illinois’ work focuses on three things: voting, education, and getting more women involved
in politics.
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 26. Social Change is a national non-profit committed to the radical transformation of protest into
progress by working together with a network of organizers, lawyers, legislators, journalists,
artists, and other storytellers seeking to improve the social reality of communities of color, to
support and defend impoverished and divested households, and to uplift institutions
committed to transforming lives and communities through strategic partnerships, community
capacity building, and technical assistance.
27. The Voices and Faces Project is an award-winning non-profit storytelling initiative created
to bring the names, faces, and testimonies of survivors of gender-based violence to the
attention of the public. Through educational and advocacy trainings, survivor story archives,
and writing workshops, The Voices and Faces Project seeks to change minds, hearts, and
public policies through the power of personal testimony.
28. TransLife Care Program at Chicago House & Social Service Agency (“TLC”) provides
comprehensive programming and support to transgender individuals. TLC provides a variety
of resources and services related to medical, housing, legal, and employment.
29. Unitarian Universalist Prison Ministry of Illinois (“UUPMI”) equips Unitarian
Universalists in Illinois to transform institutions and support people harmed by the prison
industrial complex. UUPMI fosters connections between UU congregations and Illinois
prisoners by offering liberal religious ministry inside prisons, advocating for policy changes
related to prisons, and teaching radical hospitality to congregations welcoming formerly
incarcerated people.
30. Voices of Reason is a community organization that connects progressive voters in central
Illinois. Voices of Reason has grown through social media into an active group that meets
online and in person through events, rallies, study groups, marketing, and more. Voices of
Reason has worked on successfully passing the Equal Rights Amendment, coordinating
people to March For Our Lives rally, and many social justice concerns.
31. Women’s March – Illinois is the Illinois chapter affiliate of the Women’s March Network.
The mission of Women’s March is to harness the political power of diverse women and their
communities to create transformative social change and fight for the collective liberation of
all women and femmes. Women’s March is a women-led movement providing intersectional
education on a diverse range of issues and creating entry points for new grassroots activists
and organizers to engage in their local communities through trainings, outreach programs,
and events.

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