diff --git a/imageai/Prediction/Custom/custom_utils.py b/imageai/Prediction/Custom/custom_utils.py
index 8dcea8d8..7f59d0bb 100644
--- a/imageai/Prediction/Custom/custom_utils.py
+++ b/imageai/Prediction/Custom/custom_utils.py
@@ -1,8 +1,5 @@
 import json
 
-CLASS_INDEX = None
-
-
 
 def preprocess_input(x):
     """Preprocesses a tensor encoding a batch of images.
@@ -24,11 +21,8 @@ def preprocess_input(x):
 
 def decode_predictions(preds, top=5, model_json=""):
 
-
-    global CLASS_INDEX
-
-    if CLASS_INDEX is None:
-        CLASS_INDEX = json.load(open(model_json))
+    with open(model_json) as f:
+        CLASS_INDEX = json.load(f)
     results = []
     for pred in preds:
         top_indices = pred.argsort()[-top:][::-1]
@@ -38,4 +32,4 @@ def decode_predictions(preds, top=5, model_json=""):
             each_result.append(pred[i])
             results.append(each_result)
 
-    return results
\ No newline at end of file
+    return results
diff --git a/requirements.txt b/requirements.txt
index ca4c3d44..2a7cd942 100644
--- a/requirements.txt
+++ b/requirements.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,7 @@
 tensorflow
 keras
 numpy
-pillow
+pillow<7.0.0
 scipy
 h5py
 matplotlib