In mid-April, the John Howard Association of Illinois, a citizen oversight and prison reform organization, relocated to the Northwestern School of Law campus. The move allows for continued collaboration between JHA and the School of Law’s Bluhm Legal Clinic.
JHA was formerly located at 300 West Adams St. in Chicago, said Coordinating Director John Maki. He said the organization will remain independent of the School of Law in spite of its proximity to the University.
“We moved because there has been a long relationship between members of the legal clinic and John Howard, and we had the opportunity to move closer to them,” Maki said.
As a result of the move, Bluhm Legal Clinic Director Tom Geraghty and Center on Wrongful Convictions Director Rob Warden have assumed the positions of acting executive co-directors of JHA.
JHA was founded in 1901 to “provide critical citizen oversight of the state’s adult and juvenile correctional facilities,” according to the group’s website. The organization conducts visits to correctional facilities and reports their research to policymakers to inform legislative activity.
The Bluhm Legal Clinic at the School of Law is home to numerous centers and programs-including the Children and Family Justice Center and the Center on Wrongful Convictions-that provide practical training for law students while urging them “to scrutinize the quality of justice,” according to the School of Law’s website.
As a “public interest entity working in criminal justice,” the Bluhm Clinic collaborates with numerous agencies like JHA on different projects, Geraghty said. The clinic has worked with JHA to study the conditions of confinement at juvenile detention centers in Illinois, and from time to time the Association will refer a case to the legal clinic if an inmate needs legal representation, he said.
Going forward, Geraghty said he hopes the presence of JHA on the School of Law campus will allow more students and faculty to become involved with the Association’s work.
“I am hopeful that we will be able to involve student and faculty in numerous projects, including visits to monitor prison conditions, access to educational services for prisoners and re-entry of prisoners back to society,” Geraghty said.
Maki said law students are “perfectly suited” to join in the work of JHA and the experience of visiting correctional facilities can offer a unique perspective on the justice system to aspiring lawyers.
“One of the big advantages of being at NU law school is you are working with the next generation of lead lawyers,” he said. “(Students have the chance) to see the system they are working in from a different perspective. Regardless of what you go into, the perspective that you gain from seeing these things at that perspective is a life-changing one.”
