Bring Hannah Home

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Meet Hannah

Hannah Finnegan is a transgender woman currently incarcerated in the Illinois Department of Corrections. She is a survivor of abuse and trauma in and out of prison, and after 14 years of incarceration, Hannah’s family and supporters are fighting to bring her home. Hannah is 33 years old and loves video games, science fiction, manga, and anime.Hannah's Story
Hannah, like too many women incarcerated across the country, is a criminalized survivor of abuse. After enduring years of childhood sexual abuse by a family member, Hannah began to suffer from trauma-related mental illness. The abuse was documented in reports from Child Protective Services, the local police, and medical professionals, but the system designed to protect Hannah failed to keep her safe. Feeling like she had no way out, Hannah killed her abuser. She was horrified by what she had done and confessed to the police. Hannah took responsibility for her actions, pleading guilty but mentally ill to first degree murder, and was sentenced to 22 years in prison.For the next 13 years, Hannah was incarcerated in a men’s prison. After she came out to prison staff as a trans woman, she was subject to terrible abuse and mistreatment by both prisoners and staff. She was harassed, ostracized, and even sexually assaulted by another prisoner. Living in a near-constant state of fear, Hannah retreated to her cell, leaving only on rare occasions when a trusted friend could keep her safe. After prison administrators separated her from the trusted friend, she had to isolate herself completely, spending months in essentially in solitary confinement with no meaningful social interactions outside of her communications with her brother, grandparents, and attorneys.Despite this, Hannah has taken momentous steps in her rehabilitation and has proven herself to be a model prisoner. After receiving an associate’s degree while incarcerated, she worked as a teacher’s aide in prison GED classes and tutored her incarcerated peers. She used her passion for video games and computers as a teen to help her instructors troubleshoot IT problems during classes. She has become an advocate for herself and for her peers and has tried to educate prison staff and administrators about the needs and experiences of trans folks in the hopes of improving conditions for other trans women in prison. Her disciplinary record in prison has been excellent and she feels deep remorse for her offense.While Hannah’s family was devastated by her offense, they never wanted Hannah to go to prison - they wanted her to get help so that they could heal as a family. She has found unconditional love and support from the people most impacted by her offense. They will never be able to heal from the hurt their family experienced until Hannah is home again.As one of the surviving family members puts it, “It does not honor my [relative]’s memory, nor does it help me in any way for Hannah to spend the next 10 years in prison… I don’t know who it benefits for Hannah to stay in prison, but it is certainly not me or anyone in my family.”A Step Forward
In July 2021, IDOC officials finally acknowledged how inhumane it was to continue housing Hannah in a men’s prison, and she was transferred to a women’s prison. She has continued to support other transgender prisoners and was even accepted into a bachelor’s degree program at Northeastern Illinois University. While her move into a women’s prison was a tremendous step forward, Hannah’s family and supporters are ready for her to come home and are asking Illinois Governor JB Pritzker to finally deliver justice to the family and commute her sentence.Bring Hannah HomeIf the people most impacted by Hannah’s offense want to bring her home, why is she still incarcerated? What purpose is served by her sentence? Although her offense was horrible, everyone recognizes that she committed it only because she was suffering from a trauma-related mental illness from which she has recovered. Hannah is extremely unlikely to reoffend. Hannah was hurt by the abuse she suffered and let down by a system that couldn’t protect her.If she is released, Hannah can finally experience safety and recover from past trauma. She is excited to spend time with her family, have a job, obtain a bachelor’s degree in the IT field, and live her life as a free woman - a world in which she can be her true self. You can help make this a reality! To support Hannah, go to this change.org link to sign the petition in support of her release! Share this post [or link, etc] to spread the word and help us to finally #BringHannahHome!

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Petition link

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#Bring HANNAH HOME

When sharing posts about Hannah on social media, feel free to share the parts of her story that you connected to, and share messages of support for Hannah and her family! Click the button below to access the folder of share-able posts, and use the hashtag #BringHannahHome

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