The John Howard Association of Illinois provides critical public oversight of the state’s prisons, jails, and juvenile correctional facilities. As it has for more than a century, the Association promotes fair, humane, and effective sentencing and correctional policies, addresses inmate concerns, and provides Illinois citizens and decision-makers with information needed to improve criminal and juvenile that will ultimately lead to less burden on taxpayers, safer communities, and a humane treatment of human life.
Staff and Lead Consultants
Malcolm C. Young, Executive Director
Mr. Young began his career as a criminal defense attorney in Chicago in 1974, leaving for Washington D. C. in 1980. There, he worked for the National Legal Aid and Defender Association until 1984, focusing on sentencing advocacy in criminal courts. In 1986 he founded The Sentencing Project to promote alternatives to incarceration and reforms in sentencing law and practice. The Sentencing Project evolved into a highly regarded national leader on sentencing research, advocacy, and reform. Mr. Young returned to Chicago when he assumed his current position at the John Howard Association of Illinois.
Malcolm can be reached at myoung@john-howard.org.
Charles A. Fasano, Director, Prison and Jails Program
Mr. Fasano is Director of the Prisons and Jails Program of the John Howard Association (JHA), a private, not-for-profit agency working for prison and jail reform since 1901. Since 1988, he has been responsible for monitoring conditions throughout the Illinois Department of Corrections (26-28 adult prisons, 3 boot camps, and 8 juvenile facilities), the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center, and the Cook County Department of Corrections (CCDOC), which JHA monitors for the U. S. District Court in Duran v. Sheahan et al., a class-action lawsuit regarding crowding and conditions of confinement that began in 1974, and other correctional facilities. Mr. Fasano also serves as a court-appointed expert in Harrington v. Sheahan et al., a federal class-action suit regarding mental health care at CCDOC. Most recently, Mr. Fasano is also a court-appointed monitor in Doe v. Cook County et al., the federal class-action conditions case involving the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center.
Other professional experience includes: two (2) years as Director of Accreditation for the National Commission on Correctional Health Care, inspecting more than 50 jails, prisons, and juvenile facilities in more than 20 states; and, seven (7) years as Director of Human Services/Chief Ombudsman at the Cook County Department of Corrections. Mr. Fasano is an Adjunct Instructor in the Justice Studies Department at Northeastern Illinois University and previously in the Department of Criminal Justice at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He has inspected more than 90 correctional institutions in 12 states; in addition, he has published articles in several professional journals, served as an expert witness in individual and class-action lawsuits, and taught and lectured extensively. He has served as a member of Institutional Review Boards for the Cook County Bureau of Health Services and the University of Chicago Division of Biological Sciences & Hospitals.
Charlie can be reached at charlie@john-howard.org.
Shaena Fazal, Director, Long Term Prisoner Policy Project (LT3P)
Shaena Fazal is the co-founder and Director of the Long-Term Prisoner Policy Project and a Soros Justice Advocacy Fellow. In this position, she advocates for humane treatment of long-term prisoners, works to renew the public’s commitment to rehabilitation, and focuses on changing policies that have resulted in the warehousing of long-term prisoners. Ms. Fazal established this project when she witnessed the inhumane treatment of long term prisoners in Illinois prisons through representing indigent defendants on appeal in capital and non-capital cases. Prior to her current position, she was an Assistant Appellate Defender for the Office of the State Appellate Defender and a Constituent Advocate for Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.
In 1997, Ms. Fazal earned a dual bachelor’s degree in Black World Studies and Sociology from Miami University. To complete her degree in Black World Studies, she studied abroad in Ghana. She obtained her Juris Doctor in 2000 from the Chicago-Kent College of Law. She is a volunteer teacher at St. Leonard’s Adult High School, tutors students through the Minority Legal Education Resources, and represents pro bono clients at parole hearings and in post-conviction proceedings. Ms. Fazal is also General Counsel for the Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty and is the Secretary of the Illinois State Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Corrections and Sentencing. She is one of 14 women in the state who was selected to participate in the Illinois Women’s Institute for Leadership, a training program for Democratic women who are considered potential leaders in state public affairs.
On November 16, 2006, Shaena was awarded the Judge Abraham Lincoln Marovitz Public Interest Award from her alma mater, Chicago Kent School of Law, for her work on behalf of long term prisoners.
Shaena can be reached at shaena@john-howard.org.
Lead Consultant : Patricia Connell, Juvenile Justice
The John Howard Association of Illinois
300 W. Adams, Suite 423
Chicago, IL 60606
(312)782-1901 / (312)782-1902 (fax)
info@john-howard.org
