•January 12, 2022•
By Capital News Illinois

Illinois lawmakers passed a bill clarifying issues around the massive criminal justice reform bill that passed with the support of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus last year.
On a 67-42 vote, the House voted Wednesday, Jan. 6, to accept a senate amendment to House Bill 3512, clarifying issues relating to pretrial services, detainee phone calls and moving back effective dates in the police decertification system and body camera footage labeling.
Rep. Justin Slaughter, D-Chicago, the lead House sponsor of the bill, said it’s intended to help facilitate the implementation of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T Act that was passed in January 2021.
During the debate, Republicans voiced their frustrations regarding language used for detainee phone calls and pretrial services.
The bill outlines that when someone is detained, law enforcement must allow them to make up to three phone calls within three hours of being detained. If the individual is moved from one detention center to the next, the three phone calls and three hours will restart.
But House Minority Leader Jim Durkin, R-Western Springs, argued that the bill did not provide enough clarification between the words “police custody” and “detention”.
“Police custody means that they’re not free to leave. That means that they’re sitting in a squad car and under the way you’ve drafted your bill, that means that the police have to give that person three phone calls,” Durkin said.     Login or Subscribe to read the rest of this story.