* Ex-warden: Ill. supermax `very, very hard time’ (Tamns prison piece: A very long but very good read)
But critics of the prison say Fields is a victim of a deeply flawed policy that punishes mentally ill inmates for behavior they cannot control by placing them in solitary confinement for long periods, in many cases 10 years or more.
Such punishment, some critics say, amounts to torture worse than that experienced by suspected terrorists at the U.S. military prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
After his transfer 11 years ago to Tamms, Fields coped in ways bizarre and self-destructive common to many inmates held in continuous solitary confinement. He sliced his arms and throat with bits of glass, metal and paint chips. A prison doctor who stitched him up once testified he didn’t always inject anesthetic because the skin of many Tamms inmates became numb from massive scarring from repeated self-mutilation.
Fields smeared excrement in his cell so often that maintenance men painted it with an easier to clean coating. He swallowed glass. Prison officials charged him $5.30 for tearing up a state-owned sheet to make a noose to kill himself.
* Buehrle family enjoys day at mayor’s office
Watch for a Cook County grand jury to issue an indictment today against the four Burr Oak Cemetery employees charged with desecrating graves. Are new charges forthcoming?
* Lake County Coroner Richard Keller Under Investigation
The Lake County state’s attorney’s office is investigating a methadone-related death after learning that the county’s coroner, Dr. Richard Keller, prescribed the drug to the victim at a Waukegan clinic, where Keller is medical director.
The Drug Enforcement Administration is participating in the county investigation, which includes a review of whether Keller and clinic staff followed proper procedures in administering methadone, commonly used to treat heroin addiction, DEA Special Agent Will Taylor said.And a state agency has faulted the clinic for not reporting the death, as required.
* Nursing home could face fines for abuse
La Salle County could face federal and state fines of $20,000 or more for code violations at a nursing home where a male patient is accused of molesting 10 women.
* Attorney: Cop is killer, not marijuana dealer
Finnigan, formerly of the police Special Operations Section, shot Eric Kaminski three times in the head on Feb. 4, 2004 after Daniel Nevarez told him Kaminski stole $40,000 of cash and two kilograms of marijuana from his home, Stuart Goldberg claimed during his opening statement’s at Nevarez’s murder trial this afternoon.[…]
Nevarez, 27, had been paying off Finnigan $3,500 a month to keep him from getting arrested, Goldberg said.
And when the money disappeared, Nevarez allegedly told Finnigan he couldn’t pay him. So Finnigan met with Kaminski, 25, in a building Nevarez’s father owns, in the 2200 block of West Coulter, and shot him, Goldberg said.
Finnigan has been charged along with other members of the now-disbanded Special Operations Section of falsely arresting and robbing people. Finnigan is also charged in federal court with plotting to kill a fellow officer, Keith Herrera, whom he believed was cooperating with the corruption investigation.
* Suit claims Glenwood police officer beat man having diabetic attack
Johnson, who suffers from Type 2 diabetes, said his blood sugar was so low he was losing consciousness when he bumped a guard rail with his car while trying to pull over on the road.
The lawsuit claims Glenwood police officer Dan Fisher pulled up behind Johnson’s vehicle, went to the driver’s side window and, believing Johnson was intoxicated, smashed the window with his baton in an attempt to rouse him. The suit said Fisher then pulled him out of his vehicle and choked, punched and kicked Johnson multiple times. […]
An emergency medical services report filed by Bud’s Ambulance termed Johnson as being “difficult to arouse” and “not responding to verbal” commands at the scene. His blood sugar count was recorded as 26 on the report.
Normal blood counts are between 80 and 120, said Maria Natividad, a certified diabetes educator with Ingalls Outpatient Diabetes Center in Tinley Park. “A 26 would be considered a severe hypoglycemic blood sugar count. Their symptoms could mirror someone who is intoxicated or they may just pass out,” she said.
* Second Brown’s Chicken Massacre Trial Set to Open
* One dead, seven wounded in two shootings on Southwest, Far South sides
* 8 stabbed in fight at Cook County Jail
* Grandson charged in murder of 88-year-old
Family members say Sim Williams was a retired construction worker who had six children, 15 grandchildren and 20 great-grandchildren.
* Calif. to prosecute Ill. triple murderer
A convicted triple murderer in Illinois was charged Wednesday with the killings of five Southern California women in cases dating back to the mid-1980s.
- understaffed - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 9:59 am:
Hey Gov.let those inmates go so we can throw those cook county inmates into the “downsized” state prisons so we put those people lives in danger.
- Will County Woman - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:10 am:
Gov. Quinn’s proposal to cut corrections staff is a dangerous and bad move, and the situation at Cook County Jail only underscores the perils of being in corrections.
Seriously, what is Quinn thinking? His administration is astoundingly bad!
- Will County Woman - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:20 am:
After reading the Tamms story, I think it is a necessary evil. The reality is that a lot of inmates suffer from mental illness or are developmentally delayed. But, they have also committed some of the most henious crimes, and that cannot or should not be overlooked. Tamms is a place of last resort for the worse of the worse. Prisons do not rehabilitate because they simply cannot. They are dealing with people who cannot be salvaged. If there is no Tamms where are the worst of the worst supposed to go? Nursing homes and half-way houses are not an option because of the risk posed to the staff and others there by the worst of the worst.
Does Quinn not get what Randle reported to him? Obviously not since he (Quinn) wants to do away with thousands of corrections officers.
- gulp - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:25 am:
As the parent of a mentally ill son, that excerpt about the article from the Tamms warden got my attention. After reading the article, I am upset and disgusted. I have to admit, I had never paid much attention to prison issues but any family member of someone with a mental illness can tell you that this story is a nightmare. It is clear that this prison is not serving its purpose, and even the warden admits this. I hope they can sue the prison but it sounds like you really can’t. There has to be some oversight.
- understaffed - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:25 am:
Also gov. whose gonna pay for the hospital bills. Your insurance? Does our new insurance that Obama wants cover gang violence in prisons or do the taxpayers pay for it. There is also a reason that those inmates are in Tamms. They “earned” it. Their names weren’t drawn out of a hat. You let them out they’re gonna go back to doing what got them in there. Inmates putting crap on them is nothing new. Inmates throw crap, piss whatever they can get a hold of on officers in max joints. Just ask the officers who work there. I did a shakedown at pontiac and that’s all they did. Throw that stuff all over the place. They don’t care! You keep downsizing, these inmates are gonna be back in control of these joints because we won’t have the staff to keeep them in line or “the peace.”
- moby - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:29 am:
Powerful story about Tamms, supermax prison. Can someone explain the value of sending men to a decade of solitary confinement, and then spending a fortune to treat them when they go crazy from the isolation? If a prisoner is truly a threat to others, ok, isolate him till he is safe, but this place seems to be used as punishment! That sounds expensive, cruel, and useless besides!
- Ollie - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:30 am:
Hey understaffed–No one’s saying to let any prisoners go. I submit that there is another way to spend that $90,000 per prisoner per year that would keep us all much safer. I submit that programs help to create safety, and that the de-socialization of Tamms (and the wider prison system) makes staff and the communities these guys go back to less safe. (The figure the IDOC gives for the price per prisoner at Tamms is lower, but it doesn’t refer to the cost of housing people in the supermax part of the prison. It averages the far less expensive work camp that’s there with the supermax.)
- Nickname - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:32 am:
Thanks for picking up this important story. Tamms is a major issue for IL. The prison has been singled out by both Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as a cause for concern. It is a poor excuse for spending up to $90,000 of dwindling tax-payer funds per prisoner. No to state-sanctioned torture.
- CF - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:37 am:
Thank you for posting the article regarding Tamms C-MAX and its abysmal record of incarceration. There is an obvious need for oversight of the IDOC in this and other institutions. The mere thought of state-funded and state-sanctioned torture, abuse, and neglect is truly sickening; I can’t believe this has actually been allowed to persist over the past 11 years.
- Will County Woman - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:44 am:
why were my comments deleted?
- Ollie - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:45 am:
Why are there no programs at Tamms? Why are they guys denied phone calls? Why have 30% of the prisoners at Tamms been there since it opened in 1998, despite the fact that it was only meant for 1 year? What is $90,000 per prisoner per year getting us, besides prisoners less socially able than they were when they went in?
- Bill - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:45 am:
TAMMS sounds like a good place for the gitmo prisoners. They could charge the feds triple and leave the terrorists begging for a return to the good old days in Cuba.
- smart use - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:56 am:
Tamms would be a good place for Gitmo prisoners, except that the conditions at Tamms are too isolating. The Pentagon actually had to introduce social interaction and phone calls at Gitmo out of concern for the mental health of the prisoners (and the requirements of the Geneva Convention). Once they got them out of those tents, they are basically in a supermax just like Tamms.
- gulp - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 11:08 am:
Will County Woman could not have read the article and still make those comments. This article proves that Tamms is NOT a last resort. They are sending people to Tamms…for presenting symptoms of their mental illness. And a huge number of people in the prison did not have a conviction to be transferred at all. (Yes, they had a conviction to be in prison. But the supermax is not the same thing.)(Do you really advocate for people in prison to be placed in solitary confinement FOREVER instead of normal prisons?) If you aren’t appalled by this story, then I can’t only beleive you must have an ideological stake in defending this prison. Oh, I forgot…you work for IDOC. Well, just pray that your loved-ones never get sent to prison and you have to look at the other side of this. I cannot believe our state is doing this. These are real people folks.
- mac - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 3:05 pm:
Tamms is populated by the worst of the worst,just as Marion was.There is a need for an institution like this when you have uncontrollable violent behaviour-regrettable,but needed.Those who don’t understand that reality should work as a prison guard for a little time
- one...two...three and here we go.. - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 3:58 pm:
gulp,
Tamms is for prisoners who pose a serious threat to prisoner personnel and inmates elsewhere. So, it is the place of last resort with respect to housing them. The prisoner mentioned in the article does have a mental illness and has shown that he can not be housed normally because he is violent and disruptive, and as you correctly point out he is a convicted felon. You provide no suggestion for an alternative to Tamms as to what should be done with him and others like him. Because you have no suggestions. Instead of getting all emotional about it, just look at the issue for what it is. Confining this prisoners is the safest and best way to deal with them. When you or someone else comes up with a workable alternative solution, that is in the interest of safety and security, then let’s hear it.
- gulp - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 6:40 pm:
One, two, three….
First, you did not read the article! Second, I am a scientist and I use empirical evidence to support and evaluate everything. Your assertion is false that: “Confining these prisoners is the safest and best way to deal with them.” The evidence indicates the oppostie: that supermaxes worsen behavior, create range, induce mental symptoms (including full psychosis) in even healthy people and they do not improve behavior or provide an incentive not to be violent. Prisoners act out based on a multitude of factors and having a supermax is not one of them, just like having a death sentence does not deter crime. If you want to have a death penalty out of vengeance, then at least admit it. That is what the supermax is. But, it has unwanted consequences to taxpayers. The state of Illinois is putting people in long-term isolation who will return to society or other prisons. How is that logical public policy? What is the solution? Certainly not Tamms. Treatment for the mentally ill WORKS, and so do security measures for those who need it. There isn’t anything about Tamms that is more “secure” than a regular prison–it is just zero contact. They still have to move these guys around, get them doctor’s visits, etc. and they can do that securely, just as they have done for the history of corrections, and just as they do with the death row prisoners who are not at Tamms. Anyway, read the series–there are many examples of men who disprove your point. These guys did NOT need to be in a supermax–and there was not last resort involved. Many NEVER did anything violent. The first warden agrees that they were there too long, even the judge who sentenced one of the men thought this was unnecessary and basically IDOC vengeance. If you read the article, you can’t agree that this place is being operated in an acceptable way.
- moby - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 7:51 pm:
for one, two three…: Here is one solution: Provide the seriously mentally ill with serious treatment. Drug and talk therapy, and closely supervised group activity, (not cages!), with the chance to move to other facilities, such as in Indiana, Michigan, Mississippi and elsewhere. It ain’t rocket science!
- moby - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 7:53 pm:
clarification: such step-down programs for the mentally ill are used in the states I mentioned and others. There is an extensive scholarly literature about this.
- one...two...three and here we go.. - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 8:36 pm:
moby,
in case you haven’t heard or were unaware, the state of illinois is broke. the state has no money. the state cannot afford social services and social welfare as is, so where do you suppose money would come from for mentally ill inmates?
if taxpayers are reportedly unsymathetic toward the poor and vulnerable now, how do you think they would react to pleas for tax increases for mentally ill inmates?
- moby - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 8:53 pm:
to one, two, three: Tamms is the MOST expensive (by far) prison per capita in the state. ANY kind of program in a regular prison would be cheaper than incarceration at Tamms. Do you think Miss., Indiana, and Michigan are better of than Illinois? Yet they have programs to exclude the mentally ill from the supermax, and to step them down from it. Such programs are cheaper in the short and the long run than what we do in Illinois.
- moby - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 9:04 pm:
to One, two, three:
and just one ore thing, since you seem to know your way around the IDIC. Can you really justify housing at Tamms for a decade, (on economic, safety, or any other grounds), a man whose was initially incarcerated for a non-violent offense, and whose “assaults” caused no injury to anyone? (The famous urine throwing.) Isolation in his home facility for a month, yes. Even at Tamms for a few months if he seems incorrigible. But for years? Perhaps even a decade or more? Does that seem right to you? Be honest.
- D Wareham - Thursday, Aug 6, 09 @ 10:42 pm:
Don’t blame the prison system for dealing with these guys they only way they know how. They weren’t convicted of being mentally ill. They were convicted of commiting a crime. If they weren’t held in solitary there would probably be more dead inmates or guards like the guy that only had 18 days left. No one even talks about Pontiac and it’s for all intense purposes a bigger seg unit. You really have to mess up to get to Tamms.
- jdawg - Friday, Aug 7, 09 @ 8:51 am:
Has anyone heard about Director Randle’s new ethics problem from Ohio?
- GoodPublicPolicy - Friday, Aug 7, 09 @ 10:27 am:
D Wareham, You are describing the supermax the way it should be run, but check out the article and see how it is run. The recent deaths of inmates is precisely evidence that the IDOC does not know what they are doing…and they know it because they immediately changed their policy after that happened. The IDOC has honorable goals, but it has become a big twisted senseless expensive bureaucracy that is failing at what it is doing. Recidivism rates can be lowered by good policy and that is what we need.