* Kinda hard to rehabilitate inmates if they’re sharing living spaces with rodents…

Despite promises by the state Department of Corrections to fix the problems, poor living conditions continue to plague the Vienna Correctional Center in southern Illinois, according to a watchdog group.

The John Howard Association released a report last week documenting first-hand observations and complaints from prisoners of poor conditions, including urine-stained mattresses, mold, rodents, broken windows and spiders, the Southern Illinoisan newspaper reported.

The complaints were compiled by the association during an October 2014 visit to the prison. They were similar to those uncovered in 2011 and outlined in a 2012 federal class-action lawsuit filed against the Corrections Department over conditions and crowding at the prison, which houses 48,000 inmates in space designed for 33,000. Most of the complaints were about one dormitory in the prison complex, Building 19.

* This can’t be easy, but good for DoC for making it happen…

Decatur Correctional Center’s E-wing is a place of stark juxtapositions, where the crackle of guards’ radios mix with the happy cries of a toddler learning to take his first steps. Colorful murals of Bert and Ernie from “Sesame Street” decorate the otherwise drab walls. And outside, swing sets and a plastic playhouse nestle into a corner of the prison yard, which is surrounded by a tall chain-link fence and razor wire.

For the past eight years, nonviolent offenders who give birth while in custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections have been able to keep their newborns with them as they serve time in the state’s only prison nursery.

“I’m very grateful to be here,” said Cayesha Shivers, 25, who held her 3-month-old baby boy, Kori, as she sat in her cell on a recent spring day. “Every mom here can agree with me. There’s nothing like being able to be there, hands on. Not watching your child grow up through pictures and through letters and just phone calls.”

She is among the lucky few who qualify to live on this unit, where eight private cells — each furnished with a bunk, a changing table and a crib — offer women the space to diaper, swaddle and soothe their babies. Parenting classes, required by the prison, cover everything from tummy time to nursery rhymes.

* Meanwhile…

An Illinois advisory board has voted against recommending that anxiety and diabetes be added to the list of qualifying conditions for medical marijuana.

The vote at a public hearing in Chicago is one of several votes expected Monday on various conditions submitted by public petition. Board members said anxiety was too broad, but left open the possibility of adding severe anxiety to the list in the future.

The board approved the use of medical marijuana for the treatment of Irritable Bowel Syndrome by a vote of 10-0 and the treatment of migraines by a vote of 8-2.

* In other news…

The Midwest Truckers Association recently penned a letter to the Illinois DOT, accusing officers of unfairly targeting truckers in Will County, Illinois.

The letter claims that over $2.5 million was made from overweight tickets on the Manhattan-Monee Road between U.S. Route 52 and U.S. 45.

The MTA says DOT officers camp out at the location and take advantage of confusing signage in order to issue thousands of citations. “County police have figured out if they just sit at that road, they can make some money,” said the MTA’s associate director, Matt Wells.

According to The Herald News, “Truck drivers often use the road to access U.S. 45, but fewer than 1,500 feet west of U.S. 45 lies a culvert with a 15-ton weight limit. When trucks turn onto the road to gain access to U.S. 45, the first sign they see points out a 15-ton weight limit 5 miles ahead.”

“Who in the world would [limit] a structure to 15 tons on a road that has a sign that says truck route? So everyone has logically assumed that the culvert 5 miles ahead is just past [U.S. 45] because the sign says it’s a truck route and they can access U.S. 45 this way.” Wells added.

* Related…

* Marijuana advocates rally for legalization in Peoria

* Exemplary Police Work #8

* Motorcycle safety & the helmet debate in Illinois