43 Comments - Henry Francis - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:20 am: WWJD - Chicagonk - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:20 am: I must have forgotten the part of the Bible where Jesus said let’s increase the prison population. - Saluki - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:23 am: Praise the Lord. - Cheryl44 - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:23 am: The Lord works in mysterious ways. - Ole' Nelson - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:24 am: Why not pray for legalized marijuana and thus less need for prisons? - Anon E. Moose - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:26 am: How Christian of them… - Bigtwich - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:29 am: Being your Brother’s Keeper pays well. - Perrid - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:33 am: A bit unsightly. You could argue that the prisoners are going to be held somewhere, so it might as well be there, but hoping to profit off of the punishment and pain and despair of others is simply not my idea of living with Christ. - Ole' Nelson - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:39 am: https://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2018/04/25/life-inside-a-supermax-prison Sounds like it was a lovely place. - Anon - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:40 am: This video should accompany the next resolution introduced by a SO IL legislator seeking to secede from Chicago. Honestly, its things like this that make it so difficult for those of us up north to take those of you down south seriously. - Jocko - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:51 am: ==bring back good paying jobs== I’m willing to bet she’s against legalization (which would be a boon to So IL), but has no problem warehousing adults with marijuana convictions. - Saluki - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 9:55 am: Marijuana Legalization. The solution to all societal ills and financial problems. - Give Me A Break - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:03 am: What, no closed coal mines around to pray for the return of Black Lung? - morningstar - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:04 am: There are many mansions in the Big House. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:06 am: I missed that bit in the Beatitudes about “blessed are the torture chambers, because they bring in jobs.” - Driving a car - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:09 am: ==Marijuana Legalization. The solution to all societal ills and financial problems.== Nobody’s saying that, Jocko made the (correct) point that marijuana legalization would be a boon to SOIL. - Ill Annoyed - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:21 am: They ought to pray for a change of party. The Democrats are the ones that closed the place. Do these people think we are this stupid? Like, Jerry Long stupid? - Charles Edward Cheese - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:22 am: ==This video should accompany the next resolution introduced by a SO IL legislator seeking to secede from Chicago. Honestly, its things like this that make it so difficult for those of us up north to take those of you down south seriously.== Typical level of unfounded pretentiousness coming from a portion of the state that is ridden with corruption. Ever wonder why some people down south might want secede from Chicago? - Ill Annoyed - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:23 am: Hey Anon @ 9:40 - Your latitude doesn’t determine your intelligence, sophistication, or level of enlightenment as demonstrated by your post. Jag. - I Miss Bentohs - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:26 am: = WWJD = Correction needed WWJBD - paddyrollingstone - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:27 am: I’m not sure I would do this, but I see nothing wrong with it. I know of no religious or irreligious people who do not believe that jails or prisons should cease to exist. They should be humane places but I see no reason why a city or town wouldn’t want one, with the good jobs that the jails typically bring. I have spent a lot of time in jails and prison due to my job and there are a lot of good people working in those places. Not all, for sure, but plenty. There is dignity in all work and if someone wants to work a good job with good benefits, there’s no shame in working in a prison. - Reality Check - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:29 am: Nothing but drive-by comments here so far. You don’t have to agree with their viewpoint but you could at least portray it accurately: The state recently announced plans to repurpose the shuttered former Joliet Youth Center as a new Joliet Treatment Center for inmates with mental illness. Phelps Finnie and others are saying they should repurpose the shuttered former Tamms facility for this use instead. - Under Influenced.... - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:44 am: Not to pile on, but maybe instead of a prayer rally, how about a press conference calling for a capital bill to help spur “good paying jobs”? Might have been a more honest attempt at highlighting the economic depression in SO IL and the need for jobs. They’ve been “praying” for Tamms to open for a while…apparently state gov’t isn’t hearing those prayers. - wordslinger - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:45 am: –Typical level of unfounded pretentiousness coming from a portion of the state that is ridden with corruption.– Yeah, the history of Southern Illinois is all squeaky clean goo-goo goodness — and shoe boxes. Heck, you could buy your dope from Gallatin County Sheriff Martin out his squad. And no one saw anything, for years. Easy to understand, it being such a highly populated area where no one knows anyone else’s business. He was such a great public servant that even when he was awaiting sentencing on drug and conspiracy to commit murder charges, he was smuggling dope into Williamson County Jail to serve the people inside. That’s an elected public servant going the extra mile. https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdil/pr/life-sentences-former-gallatin-county-sheriff-will-stand-says-federal-court-appeals - The young gov - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 10:48 am: ==Nothing but drive-by comments here so far. You don’t have to agree with their viewpoint but you could at least portray it accurately: The state recently announced plans to repurpose the shuttered former Joliet Youth Center as a new Joliet Treatment Center for inmates with mental illness. Phelps Finnie and others are saying they should repurpose the shuttered former Tamms facility for this use instead.== Reality Check - I hear your point and I hope and pray that more treatment centers and Reentry Life skills prisons open (like Kewanee & Murphysboro) however this info should have been big time front and center in the robocall and it appears it was not mentioned at all. - @misterjayem - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 11:10 am: “a portion of the state that is ridden with corruption” Please identify region of Illinois to which this description does not apply. – MrJM - @misterjayem - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 11:17 am: Jesus identified those who inherit the Kingdom of God, saying, “I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” I presume Natalie Phelps Finnie just wants those Biblically-mandated prison visits to be really convenient for her constituents. – MrJM - Collinsville Kevin - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 11:25 am: Well, Tamms isn’t that far from Mississippi. - 47th Ward - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 11:34 am: This is a different kind of prison ministry. - BlueDogDem - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 11:35 am: The heck with praying for prisons. Go big or go home. How about a rosary for the death penalty? - Flat Bed Ford - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 11:50 am: Oh, boy… this is awkward. Praying for people to go to jail so others have jobs? I can almost hear the banjo music in the background. - Chunga - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 11:53 am: WWJD? Who wants Jack Daniels? - Johnny Justuice - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 12:07 pm: Republican Seth McMillian should be happy because she used the term: “southern Illinois”! - Reality Check - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 12:16 pm: This comment section is sure bringing out the worst. Don’t let facts get in the way of jokes based on your wrong ideas of rural and/or religious people. - Matt Vernau - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 12:33 pm: Well….It is not that hard to get the crowd shouting “Give us Barabus.” - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 12:44 pm: ===jokes based on your wrong ideas of rural and/or religious people=== Be specific. - Reality Check - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 12:49 pm: Be specific. The comments above are littered with false claims about these advocates wanting to increase prison population, torture people, warehouse prisoners, etc, none of which has any relevance to the mental health treatment facility that is being advocated for. Then there are the ignorant jokes about banjos, whiskey, coal mines and more. Really dumb. - Lester Holt’s Mustache - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 1:08 pm: ==Then there are the ignorant jokes about banjos, whiskey, coal mines and more. Really dumb.== As opposed to the other threads where Chicago is routinely depicted in comments as a blighted hell-scape filled with corrupt leaders and criminal minorites, shooting at everyone in sight while leeching all of the precious tax money away from the hard working, god fearing folks of southern Illinois. Both sides do it, get over yourself. - Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 1:21 pm: ==Go big or go home.== Agree. You’re asking the big guy after all. Why not pray for a more luxurious better paying job, or world peace? - Reality Check - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 1:28 pm: get over yourself. You seem nice. - pawn - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 2:16 pm: Sorry, Natalie. I do not support locking some humans up to give other humans a job. Incarceration is not a jobs program. Come up with a better idea to bring employment to your region. - Lester Holt’s Mustache - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 3:11 pm: ==You seem nice.== Thanks! I attribute it to three decades of living in central Illinois. You seem nice, too. - Powerhouse Prowler - Tuesday, Sep 18, 18 @ 6:18 pm: Let us be realistic. The property has been abandoned for four years. No heat. No air conditioning. No maintenance. More tax payer money wasted. State of the art facility. Ruined no chance of opening ever again. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.