Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson (D) delivered a fiery critique of America’s incarceration system Monday, calling it “racist, immoral, and unholy” and arguing that federal intervention would do little to curb crime in the city.
Johnson urged investment in communities over military deployments or National Guard involvement, framing prisons as an ineffective solution to violence.
Speaking at a Monday press event alongside Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) and Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, Johnson framed incarceration as an ineffective tool against crime.
“We cannot incarcerate our way out of violence. We’ve already tried that. And we’ve ended up with the largest prison population in the world without solving the problems of crime and violence,” he said.
The mayor added that the nation’s reliance on prisons is “racist, immoral, and unholy,” emphasizing that residents want stronger community services rather than federal involvement.
“As the mayor of this city, I can tell you that Chicagoans are not calling for military occupation. They are calling for the same thing that we’ve been calling for for some time. And that’s investment,” Johnson said.
Trump countered by pointing to Washington, D.C., as an example of his strategy’s success, noting the city’s recent drop in violent