Demand justice for Nickolas Lee.

Jami Nakamura Lin
Written By Nicole Cardoza

Happy Monday and welcome back to the Anti-Racism Daily. Today, we're centering Cassandra Greer-Lee and her fight for justice for her husband, Nickolas, and all detainees vulnerable to COVID-19. Take a few moments today to join her efforts.


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By Jami Nakamura Lin with Cassandra Greer-Lee (she/her)

On April 12th, 2020, Cassandra Greer-Lee discovered that her husband, Nickolas Lee, had died after contracting coronavirus in Chicago’s Cook County Jail (CCJ). At the time, the jail was the nation’s “largest-known source of coronavirus infections” (NY Times). Like many of CCJ’s detainees, Lee was awaiting trial. 

Today, Cassandra is sharing her personal experience with us. In this interview, she tells us about her beloved husband, her ongoing activism, and what she thinks achieving true justice for her husband would look like. 

First, some context: today, eight months after Lee died, coronavirus is again widely circulating at CCJ. As of December 4th, 316 of the 5,493 people detained in the jail have coronavirus, the highest number of current cases ever (Cook County Jail Coronavirus Tracker). Yet CCJ does not plan to release any further detainees. (In the spring, due to public pressure and coronavirus concerns, CCJ released some of “those awaiting trial and low-level nonviolent offenders” (CNN).)

Inmates, advocates, and correctional officers themselves have long argued that CCJ hasn’t done nearly enough to protect the public health of people inside (Block Club Chicago). In September, a federal appeals court upheld a judge’s earlier injunction that mandated widespread coronavirus prevention policies inside the jail, despite Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s appeals (Chicago Community Bond Fund). For more on the conditions inside CCJ, check out Injustice Watch.

Interview with Cassandra Greer-Lee

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity. 

In the beginning of this painful battle, on the day Nickolas died, I called Channel 7 News. They were airing the coronavirus deaths, and I asked if they could please stop labeling him “Detainee #3”. He has a name. My battle has been to show that he was a man. Not just a detainee, not just a number. That’s why I carry his big picture around all the time. He had a family that loved him.


He was only 43 years old. He had a lot of living left to do with me. He was a phenomenal cook and a wonderful friend. He was the type of person to encourage you to do better and be better. People might have thought he was mean because he never smiled, but he wasn’t. He loved to see me smile. God couldn’t have blessed me with a better man, and I will never find another friend like him in all my life. My goal was to continue to grow old with him. But that was cut short. His death was preventable. 


So I want people to know— please look past the things [Sheriff Tom] Dart said about my husband. He should have had the opportunity to go through the judicial system so a judge could decide whether he was guilty or not guilty. But instead, he was sentenced to death by coronavirus at Cook County Jail. The saddest part about CCJ and this whole system is that they would rather prepare for mass incarceration than to make programs, help children, and give money to low-income communities to  prevent mass incarceration. 

The jail system is not made to reform anyone. This is profit. This is human lives for profit. 


I just need everyone to know— yeah, my husband was an inmate. He still deserved to live. I don’t deserve this pain. I tried to save his life. My husband tried to save his own life to no avail. And Tom Dart [who tested positive at the end of November] gets to quarantine with all the wonderful luxuries of his home and the comfort of his wife. I don’t wish him any ill will, because no one should have to go through the pain that I’m going through. But he doesn’t have to be in a hospital room alone with people coming in wearing space suits. At the hospital, my husband couldn’t even walk to the window to see me, and I was downstairs there every day he was at Stroger [Hospital]. I was just trying to send up my energy to him.

I think if he had gotten to Stroger earlier, he could have lived. But when he got there, he went straight to the ICU. He was already in an advanced stage of COVID. Based on speaking to my husband on the phone, the [CCJ] guards were scared to come on the tier. The nurses were afraid. It took until inmates were deathly ill before they could be moved [to the hospital]. 

I am fighting my hardest to make sure that no other family feels this pain. Unfortunately, we just filled the eighth casket that we were hoping that we wouldn’t. But we’re still fighting, and I now have forces that have joined with me. At the beginning, I was alone and no one really cared about an inmate’s wife. And then people like Chicago Community Bond Fund (@chibondfund) and Nikkei Uprising came and stood with me. People like Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation (@soulinchicago) and Torture Justice Center (@chitorturejustice). 

On one hand, we are getting victories— on the court side, judges are agreeing with us. We were able to defund the jail by $35 million, even though it was only a fraction of the $157 million we  were hoping to put back into Black and Brown communities. (Read more about Budget for Black Lives. ) We are being heard. This fight isn’t in vain. 

But the victory isn’t where I really would like to see it, which is back there with the detainees [in CCJ], those human beings whose lives are in jeopardy. Their fate could be my husband’s. I keep in contact with other inmates mainly through the phone, but also when I’m outside protesting, through letters in the windows, notes on dry erase boards. I first connected with them when my husband was there— he would have other inmates call me to see if I had found any help [for his coronavirus]. Some days he was too sick to call me, so they would call me instead.

After Nick, I told them to keep calling me. My heart is so heavy for them. I am fighting for them. I was speaking to one of their mothers, and she was crying so hard. Her son’s bond is $200,000, and she just doesn’t have it. She’s doing all the overtime she can. It broke my heart because she was right: your freedom depends on wealth. And he’s not yet convicted of anything. 

So for me, finding true justice for Nickolas would be first, voting Tom Dart out, and to get [a sheriff] who understands that inmates’ lives matter. Second, to end money bail. And then— I know this is farfetched—  to close down county jails. Before then, to stop preparing for mass incarceration, and instead to prevent incarceration. 

As of right now, the memories hurt. I try to think so hard about them, even though that’s all I have left— memories. But I have to fight. I just can’t let them murder him and do nothing. I’m going to go out every Sunday until we win. As long as my husband is dead and Tom Dart is there, I’m going to be out there. 


Cassandra Greer-Lee protests in front of Cook County Jail every Sunday afternoon from 1-5pm and welcomes others to join her. For more information, check out @justice4nicklee or facebook.com/JusticeForNickolas. Mutual aid can be sent to facilitator @Megan-Kay-2 (Venmo) or $MeganKay11(Cashapp). Donations are requested for protester supplies (heaters, signs, etc) and for materials for people inside CCJ (books, crosswords, etc). To spread awareness, use hashtags #JusticeForNick and #FreeThemAll.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

  • Nickolas Lee died on April 12th, 2020. He was a phenomenal cook, a wonderful husband and friend, and the third person detained at Cook County Jail (CCJ) to die of coronavirus. At the time, CCJ was the nation’s “largest-known source of coronavirus infections” (NY Times). 

  • Like many people in CCJ, Lee was awaiting trial. Because of America’s unjust pre-trial money bond system, the wealthy can await trial at home, while those without enough money to pay bail remain incarcerated and at risk. 

  • Lee’s wife, Cassandra Greer-Lee, believes that achieving #JusticeForNick means replacing Sheriff Tom Dart, ending money bail, changing our mass incarceration system, and— eventually— closing county jails.

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