Conditions at Stateville Correctional Center are so uninhabitable that a federal judge ordered most of the population out by the end of September. WTTW News sent questions to men incarcerated at Stateville to hear how they feel about the shuttering of the prison and the state building a new facility.

Parole Illinois was formed by men who are incarcerated in Illinois prisons. They’re working to reinstate the parole system after it was abolished in the state in 1978.

Advocates are raising concerns about the location of these facilities and the impact they will have on both those behind the prison’s walls and its employees. 

Workers are continuing their protest over the state’s plan to close and rebuild Stateville Correctional Center, citing concerns over safety and job stability.

The court filed the preliminary injunction order Friday, with Judge Andrea R. Wood writing that the court found a probable risk of irreparable harm from falling concrete attributed to the deteriorated masonry walls, ceilings, steel beams and window lintels at Stateville.

Want to rent an apartment? You’ll need identification. A valid driver’s license or ID is also typically needed to get a job, apply for benefits or visit the doctor. That can present an obstacle for individuals who’ve been in prison or jail, during which time their IDs were lost or expired.

Since 2018, the Dixon Brotherhood Reunion has brought together formerly incarcerated men. The event was born out of a need to network for jobs and housing and to build social connections that weren’t centered around funerals.

“Right now, there’s over 420 residents at Stateville who are at risk of dire injury due to the structural vulnerabilities, degradation and deterioration of those buildings that put them at risk of serious physical injury,” said Heather Lewis Donnell, a partner at Loevy and Loevy.

Relatives and friends are questioning the circumstances surrounding the death of 51-year-old Michael Broadway. An IDOC spokesperson said the agency is “actively investigating.”

Black people in Illinois are incarcerated at a rate seven and a half times higher than their White counterparts, according to the Prison Policy Initiative. And the national incarceration rate of Black people is six times the rate of White people.

The circumstances around his death have left friends, family and others incarcerated at Stateville questioning the sequence of events around his medical treatment. Friends who witnessed his death last week said he “didn’t have to die.”

Hundreds gathered at hearings this week to voice concerns over Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration’s plans to close and rebuild Logan and Stateville correctional centers. At a Friday meeting, one state lawmaker said, “This is really a concept and not a plan … because a plan has details.”

Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday night to try to sway a vote by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) over Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s administration’s recommendation to close and rebuild Stateville Correctional Center.

Benard McKinley is preparing to begin law school at Northwestern’s Pritzker School of Law. He graduated from college while serving 22 years in prison for a crime he committed when he was 16 years old. 

Illinois legislators this week approved a bill to restructure an oversight board in charge of distributing state money to courts that provide prison alternatives, while other criminal justice measures introduced throughout the session remain stalled.

In the last 20 years, Illinois has released a spate of inmates who were wrongfully convicted, some after it was determined they were tortured into giving confessions. In fact, the state was faced with so many claims of torture that it created the Torture Relief and Inquiry Commission in 2009.