Crime & Law
Dozens of Incarcerated Men at Lawrence Prison Begin Hunger Strike Over Restrictive Housing Conditions
Images of the Lawrence Correctional Center restrictive housing unit in 2022, left, and restrictive housing yard, right, were included in a lawsuit filed by Uptown People’s Law Center.
Approximately 25 incarcerated men have launched a hunger strike at Lawrence Correctional Center over restrictive housing conditions, according to lawyers from civil rights law firm Uptown People’s Law Center.
The men declared the strike from their restrictive housing, or solitary confinement, cells on Monday, alleging a lack of mental health treatment and out-of-cell time at the prison in the southeast region of the state.
“It’s to the point where (men in restrictive housing) are helpless,” said Dwayne Croom, who’s incarcerated in restrictive housing, through a statement provided to WTTW News by his lawyer. “To the point where you have 30-plus people who would rather die than be in their circumstances.”
His lawyer, Nicole Schult of Uptown People’s Law Center, said she went to the prison last week for a legal visit. The firm is currently suing the Illinois Department of Corrections: one case alleges the department’s use of restrictive housing constitutes cruel and unusual punishment; the other that the department has failed to provide mental health treatment.
But she said she was confronted with a new set of problems.
Men in restrictive housing, to Schult’s surprise, don’t have access to their tablets to communicate with family or interact with educational materials.
Despite Lawrence having common areas, she said there’s little out-of-cell time. One man she spoke with said he’s only had out-of-cell time in the prison’s yard three times since his arrival to the unit in June.
Per IDOC’s internal policy, a minimum of 10 hours of recreation should be provided per week, inclusive of no fewer than one hour of exercise outside of a cell five days per week.
The Illinois Department of Corrections did not respond to a request for comment on the strike or conditions at the prison.
Schult said that Lawrence only has one mental health professional for the restrictive housing unit. On average, about 85 men are in the restrictive housing unit on disciplinary tickets, according to the department’s end-of-month count.
Additionally, cell conditions are “horrific,” Schult said.
“I was talking to one individual today who was placed in a cell in restrictive housing, and there was writing on the wall in someone else’s feces,” she said.
He was not given cleaning supplies and had to use his one towel and neighbors soap to clean the walls.
Due to the lack of tablet access, WTTW News has not been able to directly contact men incarcerated in the unit and has relied on communication through their attorneys.
“I know that Lawrence can do better … they’ve just decided not to,” Schult said.
One striker, Mark Smith, told his lawyer that he’s feeling good about taking a stand: he’s said he’s “waiting for the backlash; if they retaliate that means he’s right and they are wrong.”
He doesn’t know how long he’ll strike for, but he said he’s “programmed” himself for 10 days of the hunger strike and “ready to go the distance.”
Contact Blair Paddock: @blairpaddock.bsky.social | [email protected]
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