* Press release…
Comments from one of Gov. Bruce Rauner’s agency directors have one state lawmaker concerned that the recent progress to reduce the state’s prison population could suddenly be undone.
“Forgive me for being suspicious, but we’ve got a governor saying he wants to reduce the prison population while at the same time his prison director is holding onto empty prisons just in case they’re needed? Something doesn’t add up,” said State Senator Mattie Hunter, a Chicago Democrat.
Hunter’s comments came in response to recent testimony from Illinois Department of Corrections Acting Director John Baldwin before a key Senate budgeting committee. Senator Hunter, a member of that committee, asked what the Department of Corrections’ plans were for unused prisons in Dwight and Tamms that once combined to house more than 1,000 inmates but have been shuttered for nearly four years.
With the prison agency seeking a funding increase in the next budget, Hunter suggested selling the property so the state could make some money in the midst of a budget crisis.
Acting Director Baldwin said there are no plans to sell off the prisons.
“You never know when you’re going to all of a sudden need it,” Baldwin said.
That set off warning bells for Hunter.
“When you have President Trump talking about the National Guard rounding up people in Chicago, I’m on high alert for the rights of our people,” Hunter said after the hearing.
Up until now, the Rauner administration has worked with lawmakers to cut the prison population. Rauner came into office vowing to reduce the inmate population by 25 percent. Hunter, also a member of the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, shared that goal, concerned that too many productive lives are being lost in prisons.
Adding to Hunter’s concerns was that Rauner-backed Republicans recent opposition to a Senate plan that would have reduced prison sentences for non-violent offenses. The general idea was to reduce prison costs by focusing available prison space for longer sentences for violent, gun-related crimes. The idea grew out of a task force the governor created.
But that provision was doomed in the Senate after Republicans backed out.
That turnabout, combined with the prison director’s desire to hold onto surplus prison space, has Hunter worried there’s a dramatic shift in direction within the Rauner administration on criminal justice policies.
“Those prisons were built for one thing: to be prisons. They’ve been closed for years. The Rauner administration should pursue ideas for selling off the land or tell the public what’s really going on,” Hunter said.
* IDOC’s response…
It is a stretch for Senator Hunter to insinuate that Governor Rauner’s efforts to reduce the prison population are disingenuous. The reality is, the prison population is down approximately 11% since Governor Rauner took office. This administration has worked diligently to restore real second chance opportunities for people who return to society – such as giving former offenders the ability to get professional licenses.
As opposed to selling several shuttered facilities, the Department of Corrections has repurposed them in recent years – the former IYC Joliet will be used to treat offenders who are on the mental health caseload; the former IYC in Kewanee is now being used as a Life Skills Re-Entry Center, where offenders are learning skills that will be critical to their success upon release; and the former IYC in Murphysboro, which will also be a Life Skills Re-Entry Center.
So, Director Baldwin is right in saying you never know when the Department may need to utilize a vacant building – and that in no way means for the purpose of rounding people up for incarceration.
- DuPage - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 12:09 pm:
Poorhouses for all the newly homeless that Rauner’s non-budget is creating.
- Donnie Elgin - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 12:10 pm:
“When you have President Trump talking about the National Guard rounding up people in Chicago, I’m on high alert for the rights of our people,”
I thought the government round up talk was the purview of right-wing Alex Jones types. I guess it is bipartisan !
- northsider (the original) - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 12:21 pm:
I though we were using them as storage facilities instead of renting warehouse space—oh, wait.
- the Cardinal - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 12:27 pm:
Time to Round up the radicals, store them on these government owned sites, Turn them into wafers/crackers when the global warming food shortages occur. Cue Charleston Heston “It’s People Your EATING PEOPLE!”
- NW sider - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 12:32 pm:
Tamms was built to be a high-security, solitary-confinement focused institution. The idea that a building like that could be “re-purposed” for a more tested and proven method of rehabilitation or inmate care is more than a stretch without serious dollars invested into a complete remodel.
- Soylent Illinois - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 12:34 pm:
Time to Round up the radicals, store them on these government owned sites, Turn them into wafers/crackers when the global warming food shortages occur. Cue Charleston Heston “It’s People Your EATING PEOPLE!”
They’re already eating our lunch.
- GOP Extremist - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 12:35 pm:
Turn Around Agenda 21 reeducation camps!!!
- crazybleedingheart - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 12:37 pm:
==Turn Around Agenda 21==
I laughed.
- Interim Retiree - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 12:38 pm:
Just a thought: why not use one of the closed prisons as a place to transfer inmates of another prison for up to 6 months while that prison is cleaned, updated, fixed up, etc? Of course we would need a budget & capital bill for that to happen, so perhaps I’m dreaming.
- weltschmerz - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 1:24 pm:
With all of the violent, repeat offenders in Cook County, now on triple-secret-probation, maybe we can sell all the prisons as self storage units.
- Passive Agressive - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 1:54 pm:
Here’s an idea, we could use this space for storage of state records…oh wait!
- justpeachy - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 1:54 pm:
Maybe they could be revamped to hold all those boxes of paper that we are storing in multi-million dollar buildings! What a waste and what a joke of an administration.
- Leave a Light on George - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 1:56 pm:
It’s generally very profitable for local jurisdictions to house federal detainees. Why shouldn’t the state get in on it?
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:28 pm:
= It’s generally very profitable for local jurisdictions to house federal detainees. Why shouldn’t the state get in on it?=
What happened to moving Guantanamo Bay prisoners to Thomson Correctional Center? I get that the Republican controlled House didn’t want to let Obama have any victories, but Obama is gone now.
- walker - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:33 pm:
As the criminal prison population shrinks, the number of undocumented immigrants in detention grows — and could grow explosively under this administration. A lot of private companies are hoping to make millions in that business.
- State worker - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 2:57 pm:
Kudos to Senator Hunter for wanting transparency about long-term and short-term goals in the state prison system–which has typically been a black box of secrecy.
There is no reason at all to think all parties in power are together “on message” with the plan to reduce the prison population. The Trump presidency has had an influence on changing priorities in many states. I wish this was an irrational fear, but it isn’t.
- Annonin' - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 3:08 pm:
Riddle us this riddler
The difference between the IYC and Reentry Centers is ..what? Oh we remember the IYC’s were closed to hurt Ds the Reentry’s were opened to help GOPies.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 4:35 pm:
–“You never know when you’re going to all of a sudden need it,” Baldwin said.–
Some examples, please, of when you would “all of a sudden need” prisons that have been empty for four years.
Obviously, they’re not fit to store old manila folders.
- peon - Tuesday, May 9, 17 @ 10:27 pm:
Say hello to the “Tier 4″ pension plan.
- Madeleine Ward - Wednesday, May 10, 17 @ 12:50 am:
Dwight’s water is contaminated, per the EPA and can cause more damage than lead.
Here is the report, you can also go to the EPA site but it is harder to navigate.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/projects/toxic-waters/contaminants/il/livingston/il1055510-dwight-correctional-center/index.html
Before anyone should be allowed to use the facilities the water must be fixed The well for water is net to the sewage system.
Pregnant women who were housed at Dwight, newborns were affected.
Total trihalomethanes (TTHMs) was at least 2x the legal limit
The water supply must be fixed before it can be safely opened