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* From the John Howard Association…
In 2022 JHA conducted two visits five months apart to Stateville Correctional Center and the Northern Reception and Classification Center (NRC), the latter of which also houses the Stateville Minimum Security Unit (MSU). Between the two visits, the population at Stateville decreased by 249 people. The reduction seemed to be part of an IDOC systemic reorganization and a plan to transition Stateville into a multi-level security prison focused on reentry programming; this remained unrealized at the time of our latter visit due to ongoing physical plant and staffing difficulties.
As IDOC implements their system-wide transition plan for facility usage, it is impossible to overlook the major issues facing Stateville in terms of the dilapidated physical plant and extremely limited out-of-cell time, purportedly due to understaffing. In September 2022, Stateville reported less than two-thirds of its allocated 929 security staff, which notably also includes staff for NRC/MSU and for substantial transportation needs including medical and court writs.
Opened in 1925, Stateville Max is one of the older IDOC facilities and presents myriad problems around conditions of confinement and the health and safety of people who are incarcerated there. Due to lack of routine maintenance, the facility is rapidly deteriorating. Things have continually worsened, as JHA has observed and documented for years. Crumbling structures, leaks, concerns about the safety of the water and sanitary systems, and lack of pest control and ventilation all conspire to create living conditions that are inhumane and unsafe.
Stateville benefits from both many unique, valuable programs and easier access for many visitors as the closest prison to Chicago —which has historically made being housed there perhaps preferable to some of the other prisons. However, we received a significant unprompted response from people in surveys and in discussions on our visits supporting closure or at least temporary relocation for substantial renovation. People also expressed willingness to sacrifice program opportunities and visits in order to live in better physical conditions. Humane living conditions and the ability to see loved ones and participate in programming should not be mutually exclusive.
JHA expects that when the 2022 assessment of IDOC’s infrastructure (done by an independent consultant) is finally made available, it will reveal billions of dollars in needed repairs throughout the system – with several hundred million dollars needed to address physical plant issues at Stateville alone. It is time to shut down old prisons that are not fit for habitation and to increase decarceration efforts in meaningful ways.
The full report is here.
Thoughts?
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 12:36 pm
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The state has neglected its own infrastructure for decades. It tries to plug holes in the ship, wasting money on emergency repairs, but cannot seem to fund complete overhauls of state facilities. And Stateville is a result of that continued neglect. Illinois has some very old prisons. I agree that something needs to be done with them. Either spend the money to fix them (which would likely not be cost effective) or build new ones to replace them.
Comment by Demoralized Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 1:08 pm
Stateville is practically single-handedly holding up the city of Crest Hill(not Joliet) financially, through the money the state provides to the city for having the facility there. Crest Hill is also who provides the city water to Stateville, and it is by far some of the worst municipal water in the metropolitan area. Water mains in Crest Hill have not been replaced since the city was founded, and there are larger water main breaks throughout town all through the year.
Without Stateville, Crest Hill will also likely no longer be financially solvent. The city has made terrible long term decisions with the assumption the prison will always be there as a source of income. If the prison goes away, one of the effects may well be Crest Hill being dissolved as a separate city and merging back into the city of Joliet.
Interesting times ahead. I can’t wait to hear the response of the city to this latest development. They do seem to find interesting and amusing ways to ignore problems.
Personally, I support completely closing Stateville. Not renovating it.
Comment by TheInvisibleMan Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 1:23 pm
The greater majority of inmates have an outdate…they’re coming back to a neighborhood near you…looking for revenge…how they were treated in prison is (in many cases) how they will treat you on the street.
Comment by Dotnonymous Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 1:41 pm
“The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons.”
― Fyodor Dostoevsky
Comment by DougChicago Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 1:44 pm
Say it ain’t so. That’s where Jake did his time.
Seriously it’s time to close it. But I hope it’s not demolished completely. It’s constructed from native limestone, like the nearby I&M Canal, and at least to me, has historic value. Don’t know what it could become.
Comment by Sir Reel Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 2:23 pm
Sir Reel thats Joliet
The legislators have been happy to send people to prison but have not been happy to fund the prisons. Does not make a whole lot of sense
Comment by Pete Mitchell Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 2:37 pm
The major problem with infrastructure for the prison system in Illinois is the reality that consolidation and actually closing facilities while upgrading others could be a huge sticking point with towns and legislators chiming in about either upgrades, closings, “resizings”…
The issue needs addressing, but ignoring an opportunity to restructure prisons would be a mistake on a few levels including fiscally
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 3:48 pm
Don’t lose sight of the politics here. Infrastructure has been ignored for several years. Closing prisons appeals to the left wingers. Pritzker has been absolutely terrible at leading state agencies. JB brags on fiscal responsibility but his agencies are severely understaffed which saves a lot of money. DOC hired an “independent consultant” despite having a million dollars in Deputy Director salaries. Don’t think for one minute this isn’t part of a plan.
Comment by Southern Dude Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 4:26 pm
==Don’t think for one minute this isn’t part of a plan==
You think there’s a grand conspiracy to let the prisons crumble so that we have to let everyone out? Did you miss your nap today?
Comment by Demoralized Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 4:57 pm
===You think there’s a grand conspiracy to let the prisons crumble so that we have to let everyone out?===
Yeah, that’s not a thing.
To see an opportunity versus making the opportunity, that’s a huge leap I don’t see happening in a conspiracy.
It’s Occam’s Razor, for me.
Comment by Oswego Willy Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 5:00 pm
=== You think there’s a grand conspiracy to let the prisons crumble so that we have to let everyone out? Did you miss your nap today? ===
Didn’t miss my nap. I took it while you were researching Facebook for your post. You own post stated the state has neglected infrastructure. Maybe it is time for your nap
Comment by Southern Dude Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 5:05 pm
“the state has neglected infrastructure”
For decades, under the watch of leaders from both parties.
The idea that it is part of a diabolical leftist plot is cuckoo.
– MrJM
Comment by MisterJayEm Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 5:22 pm
Our crumbling public infrastructure seems like another problem that could be addressed better if we had a progressive income tax rate.
Comment by Candy Dogood Thursday, May 11, 23 @ 6:09 pm