Investigations
Illinois Pitches Two New Prisons as a Way to Modernize and Address Aging Facilities. Some Advocates Aren’t Sold
(WTTW News)
As Illinois’ prison population sits at a near 30-year low, the Illinois Department of Corrections has put out a bid to build two new 1,500-single-celled facilities.
That bid is part of a $900 million plan to close Stateville and Logan Correctional Centers, both of which are in dismal condition.
IDOC used a 1,500-person capacity figure for the preliminary cost estimation of a rebuild, though discussions around the final capacity figure and build designing are still ongoing, IDOC spokesperson Naomi Puzzello said.
Illinois’ prison population continues to shrink, with facilities now having a 26% vacancy rate, leading some of those inside and their advocates to question the state’s plan to build two new prisons. Some opposed to new prisons say if they are to be built, they should be small and close to Cook County for services and loved ones’ visits. Others look toward decarceration and consolidation of other decrepit facilities.
The state, meanwhile, is pitching the rebuilding plan as necessary due to the high amount of deferred maintenance on existing buildings and the need for a modern, rehabilitative design.
“I don’t know why we are spending close to a billion dollars of taxpayers’ money for a rebuild,” said James Soto, an exoneree who served the longest wrongful conviction sentence in Illinois history. He said he’d like to see the funding instead spent on community-based anti-violence, educational and jobs programs.
“If we’re really going to be honest about things, there’s an opportunity for us to rethink the sentencing, re-sentence people and release people,” said Avalon Betts-Gaston, executive director of the Illinois Alliance for Reentry and Justice, a coalition organized by and for currently and previously incarcerated people.
Getting leaders on board for further population cuts could be difficult: Last year, Gov. J.B. Pritzker granted only six clemency petitions out of 535 that landed on his desk. In 2023 he granted 57, and 11 in 2022. But he granted 144 in 2020 and 2021 each.
Last March, Pritzker announced the closures of Logan and Stateville because the prisons are both more than100 years old and repairs are too costly.
“You’re going to have to have facilities that promote rehabilitation,” Pritzker said. “These do not.”
Both new facilities have been pitched to be built on Stateville’s south suburban Crest Hill property; the proximity of the rebuilds to Chicago is crucial. Those incarcerated would be close to loved ones in the city for visits. The location could also be a selling point for staff, as Pritzker said it’s difficult to attract corrections officers in some parts of the state.
Dyanna Winchester, who was once incarcerated at Logan, previously told WTTW News that she doesn’t want the new prison to exist, but if it does, she supports moving a smaller facility closer to Chicago, as more than 40% of women in Logan came from Cook County or the collar counties last year, according to IDOC. Logan is located in downstate Lincoln, north of Springfield.
Smaller facilities seem to function better, tending to have more room for individualized attention and independent movement, said Jennifer Vollen-Katz, executive director of the John Howard Association. When she looks at the 1,500-capacity pitch for each prison, it’s not what she would call small. However, the question she has is how this space will be used, for example, if the layout contains several small facilities in one location, like dedicated spaces for programs and treatment.
Meanwhile, she said there needs to be discussion over the state’s excess prison capacity.
According to January data from the Illinois Department of Corrections, state facilities are currently at a 26% vacancy rate, with 26,580 people incarcerated in a system built for 35,786 people. In female facilities, the vacancy rate is nearly half. As for men’s facilities: 32% of maximum security beds are vacant, along with 21% of medium security and 25% of minimum security.
Another number raises the alarm bell for advocates: about $2 billion of deferred maintenance in Illinois’ prisons — not including Stateville and Logan. That’s according to a state-commissioned report from justice planning firm CGL companies. Vollen-Katz said prisons with structures that don’t keep people safe should be closed. She pointed to Pontiac prison, one of the oldest in the state, which is reaching an “inoperable” rating, according to that CGL report.
“We know that there are many other facilities that are decrepit, unsafe and inhumane, and we don’t need them,” Vollen-Katz said.
At a news conference last month, Pritzker said that additional closures will be a question for the future.
“We have a lot of prisons that are in need of investment and the question we’re all gonna have to ask is whether or not we can improve those prisons or we’re gonna have to replace them,” Pritzker said.
IDOC said that at this time, the department does not have plans to close or consolidate other facilities.
Vacancies are not just in the prison population — facilities in Illinois are facing a staffing crisis, according to a report last year from the John Howard Association.
As of last month, over a quarter of security staff positions were not filled, according to data from IDOC. Understaffing greatly increases the amount of lockdowns and staff overtime, that report found. It impacts the overall health, safety and well-being of staff and incarcerated people.
When asked if there were concerns over staffing two new prisons, Anders Lindall, spokesperson for AFSCME Council 31, which represents most correctional employees in the state, said in a statement that “rather than potential staffing for two facilities years down the road, we’re focused on adequate, safe staffing for the more than two dozen in operation now.”
As the conversations continue on how to best move forward with plans on the prisons, men once inside Stateville have largely left, as women are still in decrepit facilities at Logan.
At the orders of federal judge Andrea Wood, who found that prison conditions posed “a risk of irreparable harm,” most of the men once housed in Stateville were transferred to different correctional facilities in September. Wood stepped in because prison officials were already embroiled in a lawsuit over conditions at the prison, including falling concrete and mold.
The closure process has had some issues. As of last week, there were still 12 men left inside of the medical unit that say they’re “kept in cells under segregation conditions with no recreational activities.” Those men transferred in the fall faced fragmentation from their peers in higher educational programs.
But while there are multiple other men’s facilities in the state, there are just two women’s prisons in Illinois: Logan and Decatur Correctional Centers. Logan, a multi-security facility houses about 1,000 women. Decatur is a minimum-security facility that houses about 290 women.
So, unlike Stateville, Logan will stay open while the new Logan is built. It’s been floated that the new prison will be built on Stateville’s sprawling 3,000-acre property in suburban Crest Hill.
In the meantime, women are living in horrific conditions, Betts-Gaston said. Housing units are in poor condition and the sewer system is failing, according to the CGL report.
The women inside of Logan that Betts-Gaston works with want out of deplorable conditions. Simultaneously, they press for reducing the prison population.
“For them, it’s walking and chewing gum,” Betts-Gaston said. “It is making my everyday life less deplorable but also understanding that all of the investments cannot be in more cages.”
There are a number of laws already in place that could further lower the prison population that are not being fully implemented, Betts-Gaston said. Last year, a law went into effect that can lower sentences for incarcerated people who participate in education, work and other programs. But there are inconsistencies in how the law is being applied at different prisons, poor recordkeeping and a lack of transparency in how these credits are calculated. That, according to a WBEZ investigation last year.
It found that as of March last year, 1,750 individuals had earned time off their sentence through the new law, according to the state. Of those, 1,341 were still in custody and 409 had been released.
There are also multiple avenues for clemency, such as the Joe Coleman Medical Release Act, for those who are dying of terminal illness or are physically disabled. Last year, approximately 240 people applied to the Prisoner Review Board for release, according to the board. Of that, the board heard 133 cases, with 34 being granted medical release and 99 denied.
Advocates are pushing for more avenues for early release, one being efforts to reinstate parole in Illinois. The practice was abolished in 1978, and some are trying to bring it back through a bill in the General Assembly. Another bill would roll back truth-in-sentencing, which limits the amount of time people convicted of certain offenses can earn off their non-life sentences.
For now, IDOC said the department is “still in the very early stages of planning and are working to build out a comprehensive team for this transformational project.” The first step is selecting and contracting with a construction manager and owner’s advisor team, then a detailed schedule will be developed.
Note: This story was updated to correct the number of men being held in the medical unit at Stateville Correctional Center.
Contact Blair Paddock: @blairpaddock | [email protected]
