* WBEZ…

Stories of dire conditions in Illinois prisons have been trickling out for years, but a new report from a consulting company hired by the state of Illinois to assess its prison infrastructure shows the situation might be even worse than previously revealed. In the report, obtained by WBEZ, consultants rated three of the department’s 27 facilities as approaching “inoperable” and estimated the prison system has at least $2.5 billion of “deferred maintenance,” the highest of any state agency. That number is expected to double in five years if unaddressed.

The Illinois Department of Corrections declined a request for an interview. But, in a written statement, spokesperson Naomi Puzzello said the department has reviewed the report and “is in the beginning stages of internal discussions to determine the next steps necessary to meet the operational requirements of the agency.”

The report encourages major repairs and fixes. But in light of a dramatically decreased prison population over the last decade, it also recommends closing one prison and shrinking another. That’s a recommendation that is likely to be controversial — unions and communities surrounding prisons have historically fought to keep facilities from shrinking.

* From the report…

Finding: Aging Capacity. Twenty percent of IDOC’s bed capacity is in facilities that opened prior to 1926. Those facilities were designed to reflect the predominant correctional philosophy of the 1800’s. The majority of IDOC’s beds (65 percent) are in facilities that were built during the extreme prison population growth period from 1970 to 2000, and many are now experiencing significant physical plant issues. This group of correctional centers may have met the operational requirements of the agency when built, but they now lack spaces necessary to accommodate today’s staffing, programming, and treatment needs.

Additionally, several of IDOC’s facilities are former mental health institutions converted to correctional facilities and most still retain housing and support spaces that are nearly a century old. For example, Logan Correctional Center opened in the 1870’s as the Illinois Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children. Nearly 1,000 of Logan’s current housing unit beds were built more than 90 years ago for a mental health population. Likewise, most of the housing at Dixon Correctional Center was constructed in the 1920’s and 1930’s to house mental health patients.

The majority of IDOC’s facilities were opened prior to the passage of the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) in 1990, and the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) in 2004. Significant physical plant modifications are required to come into compliance with these mandates. This is especially true for the oldest facilities (Stateville, Pontiac, and Menard) which have multi-tiered housing units that cannot comply with ADA and make PREA compliance difficult. Other buildings, including medical and dietary at Pontiac are not accessible.

Finding: Decreasing Population. The prison population has decreased significantly over the past 10 years, through the passage of criminal justice reforms, including those adopted during the Pritzker Administration, as well as the recent impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. It has dropped by 44 percent from nearly 50,000 in 2012 to slightly under 28,000 in 2021. As the pandemic has begun to lift, the population crept up to 29,395 in October 2022.

Today’s lower population level provides an opportunity to right-size the agency, reducing outdated, ineffective, and costly-to-operate buildings and updating some of the remaining to better support IDOC’s goals.

Finding: Litigation Impacts Space Needs. Litigation outcomes have transformed IDOC’s operations and substantially affected its physical plant needs. Settlement agreements, including the Rasho and Lippert decisions have enhanced nearly every aspect of providing medical and mental health services in the IDOC. This expansion has placed significant stress on the limited space inside correctional facilities, as treatment increases, and professional staff levels have grown.

Finding: Deferred Maintenance Crisis. The level of deferred maintenance in the system is at a critical level. IDOC has $2.5 billion in facility deferred maintenance, the highest of any Illinois state agency.

Deferred Maintenance in a correctional system, if left unaddressed, will double every 5 years. The level of repair and capital funding IDOC has received in the past decade is insufficient, and without significant progress in addressing existing deferred maintenance, the deterioration of IDOC physical plant will cascade, impacting its ability to safely manage its facilities and meet its goals. At nearly every correctional facility, IDOC’s operational mission as well as safety and security are negatively impacted by its worsening conditions.

Finding: Staffing Challenges. The ability to manage a complex correctional system is made more complicated by the fact that many are facing historic-level retention and vacancy issues. This issue has become so prevalent and pervasive that many systems have been forced to assess the number of incarcerated individuals they can safely manage given finite staff resources. Some correctional systems have taken the extraordinary step of closing prisons given their inability to recruit and retain staff.

IDOC is not immune to staffing issues, as vacancy rates have risen above 25 percent.

Pontiac Correctional Center’s correctional officer vacancy rate reached 47 percent, considerably greater than the already high agency rate of 28%. Other aging complex facilities including Dixon and Stateville had correctional officer vacancy rates well above the average.

Finding: Facility Conditions. HDR conducted detailed facility conditions assessments at each prison and found significant facility degradation. Only three out of 27 facilities reviewed had average facility condition assessments in the “Fully Operational” range. The remainder were in the “Impaired Operation” range with Stateville, Pontiac, and Logan approaching an “Inoperable” rating.

There’s more.

* Some of the recommendations…

• Recommendation: Replace the Dixon Psychiatric Unit: The Dixon Psychiatric Unit (DPU) does not effectively support the treatment and supervision of IDOC’s most difficult to manage and vulnerable population. The DPU’s X-House design is nearly identical to the facilities IDOC opened in the 1980’s and 1990’s to house general population, medium security incarcerated males. This unit should be replaced with a purpose-built design that provides appropriate housing for a severe mental health population along with adequate treatment and staff space in a design that creates a supportive environment. Estimated Cost in today’s dollars to build a 215 bed Secure Psychiatric Unit: $58,634,249 - $72,271,582 depending on location.

• Recommendation: Add Mental Health Treatment/Staff Spaces across IDOC: The lack of appropriate space for mental health professionals and mental health treatment is a substantial concern and impedes IDOC’s abilities to meet its operational goals. The department’s existing facilities were never built to manage the size of the existing mental health caseload or provide office and treatment space. The result has been that IDOC has had to make do with whatever space it could find, even at the detriment of other services. Many health care units were packed with staff and valuable exam rooms, x-ray rooms and other areas had been converted to mental health offices. […]

• Recommendation: Replace Stateville Housing: The Quarterhouse and X-House at Stateville are not suitable for any 21st century correctional center. The Quarterhouse particularly has a design developed during the penitentiary period of the 1800’s. As a result, it has little space for out-of-cell time, no program space or office space (other than converted cells). It is very staff intensive to manage and has an estimated $12 million in immediate structural repairs that are needed […]

• Recommendation: Address Women’s Facility Needs. Underlying any correctional system’s potential to meet its mission and goal is its ability to create an environment where staff and inmates can be successful. A poorly maintained correctional facility can create security and safety issues for staff and inmates, as well as a work environment that is detrimental to good performance. Our review found the existing Logan Correctional Center to be inefficient, ineffective, and unsuitable for any population. The aging coal-fired power system, molding housing units, and facility layout all work in opposition to the mission and goals of the facility. IDOC should find a more suitable location for housing its incarcerated women.

Considering the projected excess capacity of male medium security beds in the system, CGL recommends the female population at Logan be moved to one of the male medium security X-house facilities. These facilities are in much better condition but would need some renovation and new construction to develop spaces specific to managing a female population. Illinois River Correctional Center could be the preferred site given its special management unit which could serve as housing for a maximum custody population. Estimated Cost in today’s dollars to renovate and construct new space at Illinois River for a women’s population: $12,245,842 […]

• Recommendation: Consider Reducing Pontiac’s Capacity. Given its age, outdated/inefficient design, extensive physical plant needs, high cost to operate, and difficulty in recruiting and retaining staff, consideration should be given to reducing Pontiac Correctional Center’s capacity. During the course of this master planning effort, the population at Pontiac was reduced due to its high staff vacancy rate through the closure of its Medium Security Unit (442 beds). That left an August 2022 rated capacity of 778.

From a purely fiscal standpoint, Pontiac remains the most expensive facility in the state to operate on an annual basis with an annual per capita cost over $65,000 and has $235 million in deferred maintenance. Given these issues, and the excess male maximum security capacity in the system, additional capacity could be taken offline reducing agency expenses. This should improve facility security and allow Pontiac to focus its resources on the remaining population and their service needs.