diff --git a/jcl/src/openj9.criu/share/classes/org/eclipse/openj9/criu/CRIUSupport.java b/jcl/src/openj9.criu/share/classes/org/eclipse/openj9/criu/CRIUSupport.java
index 5b8bc1cd5e0..760cd6398c8 100644
--- a/jcl/src/openj9.criu/share/classes/org/eclipse/openj9/criu/CRIUSupport.java
+++ b/jcl/src/openj9.criu/share/classes/org/eclipse/openj9/criu/CRIUSupport.java
@@ -819,6 +819,7 @@ public synchronized void checkpointJVM() {
 				SecurityProviders.registerRestoreSecurityProviders();
 
 				J9InternalCheckpointHookAPI.runPreCheckpointHooksConcurrentThread();
+				System.gc();
 				try {
 					checkpointJVMImpl(imageDir, leaveRunning, shellJob, extUnixSupport, logLevel, logFile, fileLocks,
 							workDir, tcpEstablished, autoDedup, trackMemory, unprivileged, optionsFile, envFilePath);