boricuas

When she became a Senator for the State of Illinois in 2020, the educator raised in the Puerto Rican neighborhoods of Chicago presented the legislation that her community designed as a protection measure against gentrification, captivating the interest of her colleagues and achieving their approval.

After seven years in which it raised nearly $20 million on behalf of the victims of the Pulse gay nightclub massacre, the foundation folded without fulfilling the promise of a memorial.

The high cost of hiring a lawyer, the English language, and an insensible prison system complicate the situation for families in Puerto Rico with relatives imprisoned in the United States.

The question came to my mind five years ago: how many Puerto Ricans are incarcerated in the United States? At the time, in 2018, I was investigating the Government of Puerto Rico’s failed attempt to transfer incarcerated people from the custody of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to a private prison in Mississippi.