* More background is here if you need it. Shannon Heffernan…

Illinois lawmakers are calling for changes at the Joliet Treatment Center, after a Marshall Project, Chicago Sun-Times and WBEZ investigation exposed an epidemic of fires that resulted in two deaths at the prison.

In the last three years, there have been more than 70 fires at the prison, including a dozen cases of self-immolation, the investigation found.

Despite the prevalence of fires, the facility in Joliet failed to have working fire alarms, to provide evacuation plans to fire officials or to allow ambulances to quickly enter and leave prison grounds, according to government records.

* Gov. Pritzker today…

Isabel: A Marshall Project investigation found people were repeatedly settling fires at the Joliet Treatment Center, including acts of self-immolation. How do you respond to concerns that the facility has failed in its mission, and what changes would your administration make to improve both mental health care and safety?

Pritzker: Well, I think you know that where there are injustices in our correction system or throughout state government, where we are caring for people or housing people, that I am willing to take action, have taken action. There is, as you may know, litigation surrounding that report that you’re talking about. So I can’t directly address that, but I will address that. I think you’ve seen. I mean, I have taken some fairly significant actions within the Department of Corrections, as well as the Department of Human Services, about those congregate facilities like prisons.

* Back to the story…

Gov. JB Pritzker declined to comment on the investigation, instead pointing to a statement issued by the Department of Corrections.

The department had also refused to answer questions about fire preparedness at the Joliet Treatment Center, but a spokesperson wrote in a statement that the agency is “committed to ensuring the safety and security of staff, individuals in custody and all persons who enter our facilities.”

Illinois state Sen. Rachel Ventura, a Democrat who represents Joliet, where the prison is located, called the investigation’s findings heartbreaking and demanded an audit of the department’s procedures and better training for its staff.

* And over to Pritzker…

Isabel: Senator Ventura called for an audit of the department’s procedures and better training for its staff. Would you support those?

Pritzker: Well, we audit that, I mean, literally every day, or you know, at least once a year. And of course, we have internal auditors who are auditing the way that the corrections system operates, and we have discovered lots of things that we have worked on, including the challenges with the facilities themselves. As you know, we’re replacing some facilities, the challenges of operations at some of those facilities, and then the dollars. Need to be put into upgrading, just to make sure that they’re survivable and livable for people. So, that plus you know mental health strikes me. I think we all recognize that if we want a better justice system from start to finish, we need better mental health care.

When seven mentally ill inmates set themselves on fire out of desperation, the state doesn’t seem like it provided any mental health care in that facility, which was designed for mentally ill people and appeared to be functioning before Pritzker took office.

Yes, the pandemic messed things up, but that’s long past.

What’s missing here is any visible anger from the governor over this ugly, rampant abuse.

…Adding… Two advocacy groups are encouraging legislators to visit a prison to see the conditions for themselves…

On July 24, 2026, a deeply troubling news investigation revealed Illinois’ newest prison, Joliet Treatment Center (JTC) has shifted from mental health treatment to physical and psychological neglect and abuse. If you have not already, please read the story for yourself.

To honor the individuals highlighted in this story, and to recognize the many others whose experiences remain unseen, the National Alliance on Mental Illness of Illinois (NAMI IL) and FAMM are asking you to visit a prison.

This is more than a request. It is an invitation to lead.

The stories captured in this recent article are harrowing, demonstrating extreme levels of pain and desperation. They confront us with two realities. First, the inexcusable patterns detailed here were present for six years before most of us knew anything about them. Second, a facility established with the promise of treatment and recovery gradually became indistinguishable from the very correctional environments it was intended to improve.

As a legislator entrusted with overseeing state government, your firsthand understanding matters. Seeing conditions for yourself provides an irreplaceable perspective that no report, hearing, or briefing can fully capture. There are people with serious mental health conditions held in every prison operated by the IDOC (see how many of the 2,751 people with serious mental health conditions in IDOC custody are held in each facility on page 51 of this IDOC Report). In just one year from July 2025 through June 2026, IDOC reported 1,029 separate instances of self-harm by incarcerated individuals (see pages 5 and 59 of the same report), and only four of those were reported by Joliet Treatment Center. A reasonable person may therefore conclude that these numbers are significantly underreported.

Behind every number is a person—a son or daughter, a parent, a veteran, a neighbor—whose mental illness does not end at the prison gate. Every individual deserves humane treatment, access to appropriate mental health care, and the dignity afforded to every human being. NAMI IL and FAMM have come together to ask that you make a plan to visit a prison today.