Exactly WHO is Latoya Hughes?  When you visit IDOC's web site, there is no biographical information.  Each member of the administrative staff has a curriculum vitae except for her.  What do we know?  She was appointed as the interim acting director by the governor in April 2023 after her predecessor, Rob Jeffreys, ended his 4 year 10 month directorship.  Under Jeffreys, Hughes served as IDOC's Chief of Staff and Inspector.  During the pandemic, IDOC was constantly under public scrutiny for failing to keep inmates safe through various inhumane practices such as poor public health/sanitation procedures, no access to essential resources and food/drinking water insecurity.

Every inmate deserves to serve their sentence with dignity; to be respected and treated as a human being.  Having a quality of life that is conducive to restoration and rehabilitation--at least the hope of--is their birthright.  This is NOT an ask.  It is a demand.  Latoya Hughes must not be allowed to continue to sit in a seat of service and sanction genocide and apartheid.  For Illinois' system impacted community, this is NOT an ask.  It is a demand.  

According to data in January 2025, Illinois houses 26,580 inmates and has a maximum capacity for 35,786.  This means that Illinois' prisons are at nearly 75% capacity.  Meanwhile, black and brown people barely comprise 32% of Illinois’ population yet we make up a little under 70% of its prison population.  Compare that 70% to the 75% capacity and the fact stands that our people are filling those facilities.  We will never know the numbers when it comes to wrongful convictions—a statistic in which Illinois leads—and over-sentencing.  Those are our parents, siblings, children, spouses/partners and community members on the other side of the wall.

In February 2025, IDOC discontinued the use of GTL for e-messages and virtual visits and Securus for phone calls.  They replaced them with CorrLinks for e-messages and ICSolutions for calls and virtual visits.  Communication with our loved ones has gone from consistent and reliable to virtually non-existent.  Upon implementation, CorrLinks seemed like an upgrade from GTL because the message delivery was instantaneous like texting.  Now we are being informed by IDOC that the delivery time will be significantly slowed so that the messages can be screened.  

The only surety we have regarding virtual visits is that IDOC cancels them with regularity.  In cases where there is no cancellation, there is still inconsistency such as the COs not informing the inmates of the visits or abruptly ending the visit midway.  Even worse, our community is even more adversely affected by the blatant disregard for in-person visits.  Families that do not have access to reliable transportation are paying drivers approximately $120-$160 per person to visit.  Company owners and visitors call to check the lockdown list before departure and it is clear.  They are turned away upon arrival to the facilities due to impromptu lockdowns.  While this is frustrating for the already struggling business owners, it is causing further financial damage to the families as the drivers do not offer full refunds.  We can barely afford to pay CorrLinks, ICSolutions, help to maintain our loved ones on the inside and take care of our households.  There are children, seniors and people with health issues who need to keep in touch with their loved ones.  Our loved ones on the inside need to hear our voices, share smiles and be in our presence.   

These forms of communication and contact are not luxuries.  They are basic human rights that are systemically being denied.  This is a form of apartheid.  In addition, another form of apartheid is the alleged discrimination against inmates who wear natural hairstyles like locs/wicks, braids, afros and twists.  It has come to our attention that they are being told that they either stop wearing those styles or face transfer to other facilities.  Even though they are inmates, they are still protected by the Crown Act. 

What we find oxymoronic is that in the face of it all, IDOC is being managed by an African American woman.  Illinois' lieutenant governor is also an African American woman and touts a platform based on restorative justice and prison reform.  With the current state of affairs that we have just outlined, we would not support her run for Dick Durbin's impending vacant seat.  For them to be silent strongly indicates that they are complicit--comfortable in their lack of empathy.    

Inmates are not animals.  If animals were to be treated like IDOC inmates, PETA would be all over this.  They would have demanded that Hughes step down.  They would have held the governor who appointed her accountable.  They would not stop advocating until the situation was remedied.   Therefore, we will continue to reach out and make our voices heard until the system impacted community is made whole.  We humbly thank you for supporting this movement.