WBEZ | Illinois Department of Corrections

Gov. Quinn moving inmates into gyms at six prisons

Fri, 15 Feb 2013 05:00:00 -0600

The Illinois Department of Corrections has told the union for prison workers that they plan to start housing men in the gymnasiums at six already overcrowded prisons.

The move comes as Gov. Pat Quinn plans to close Dwight Correctional Facility, requiring inmates to be shuffled around the prison system.

But the system is already overcrowded. There are 49,000 people being housed in facilities built for 33,000.

Anders Lindall is with the union representing prison workers. The union opposes closing Dwight and opposes housing inmates in gyms.

“It’s not only unsafe in and of itself but it heightens tensions in the prisons that due to the crowding are already volatile,” Lindall said.

“Right now what we’re doing is putting the cart way before the horse,” said John Maki, the executive director of The John Howard Association, a prison watchdog group in Illinois.

Maki says in general his group favors closing prisons because in the past prisons have been overused to house those with mental illness and drug addiction. But Maki says you can’t simply squeeze more people into less space.

“Without a plan to safely and significantly reduce the prison population, I don’t see how this can be a temporary fix. I think this will become the new status quo, which is dangerous for inmates but also for staff,” Maki said.

In a written statement the Department of Corrections insists that housing men in gyms will be a temporary situation, though they don’t outline any plan to relieve the already historic overcrowding that will be made worse by the prison closure.

For the last eight months WBEZ has had a standing request to interview Gov.Quinn about his prison policy. He has refused.

Shuttered Joliet prison won't house NATO offenders

Thu, 03 May 2012 09:36:00 -0500

The Illinois Department of Corrections says it won't reopen a shuttered prison in suburban Chicago to house protesters arrested during this month's NATO summit.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart floated that idea in recent days as he prepares for the possibility of a large number of arrests. Thousands of anti-war and other demonstrators are expected to descend on the city during the May 20-21 summit. Dart's office has noted that Cook County jail space is already severely limited.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday that the state prison authority has decided not to reopen the shuttered facility in Joliet.

Department of Corrections spokeswoman Stacey Solano tells the Sun-Times that the former Joliet Correctional Center is "not an option." She didn't explain why.

The cost of caring for Illinois' aging prison population

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 14:21:00 -0600

Illinois’ prisons are strapped for cash and caring for the growing number of elderly prisoners is part of the problem. Inmates over 50 are a fairly small slice of the overall prison population. But according to a new report released Wednesday in the Chicago Reader, they use about one-third of the Illinois Department of Corrections’ total budget.

Jessica Pupovac is the freelance journalist behind the report and has been sifting through the figures. She joined "Eight Forty-Eight" to discuss what she unearthed for her piece, "Guarding Grandpa: Illinois is spending money it doesn't have to keep convicts who can barely walk behind bars."

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