Good news! Sarah Blatt-Herold, HLS ’23, has been named the DAG Fund fellow for 2023-2024!
Sarah will be carrying out her fellowship with the MacArthur Justice Center in Chicago, where she will work with a coalition of organizations fighting e-carceration, hoping to reduce the number of people who lose their liberty to Electronic Monitoring (EM). Here are Sarah’s words about her work:
Increasingly, people returning from prison and awaiting trial are subjected to electronic monitoring (“EM"), particularly ankle monitors that track a person's every move, cost up to $40/day, and come with extreme restrictions on movement. EM effectively transforms low-income people's homes into extensions of prison, hindering reentry.
As a David A. Grossman fellow, I will provide direct representation to individuals pre-trial and on parole. On the pre-trial side, I will represent people in motions to remove or modify EM as a condition of release, and provide legal services to a burgeoning mutual aid network of people on EM in Illinois. On the parole side, I will represent people before the parole board, defending against alleged violations of EM or seeking to remove/modify EM as a condition of release.
In addition to direct representation, I will engage in investigation and community outreach work. Working closely with a coalition of organizations fighting e-carceration, I will investigate the use of EM pre-trial, the parole board’s decision-making process in imposing EM, and the impacts of EM on those subjected to it. I will also create know-your-rights materials, fact-sheets, and participate in community trainings on EM.
We are thrilled that Sarah is this year’s DAG Fellow, and know she will be a wonderful addition to the DAG fellow community.
Congratulations Sarah!
