In a permanent injunction issued Tuesday, a federal judge found that Illinois prison inmates face an ongoing, serious risk of harm because of inadequate mental health care.
Judge Michael Mihm gave the Department of Corrections 14 days to submit a plan to address what he called “systemic and gross deficiencies in staffing” that denies more than 12,000 mentally ill inmates adequate treatment and care. The ruling was handed down by the U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois in Peoria. […]
“A civilized society cares for the helpless. The IDOC has shirked this responsibility year after year. They should be ashamed,” [Harold Hirshman, one of the attorneys for inmates] added. […]
On the issue of segregation, Mihm noted that over 80 percent of the 1,105 inmates held in their cells 22 to 23 hours a day are mentally ill. In his testimony, [Pablo Stewart,a court-appointed monitor] called the inmates in segregation “some of the sickest individuals psychiatrically that I’ve seen in my career, and I’ve worked with seriously mentally ill (people). And these people are just suffering immensely.”
Once the state responds, the inmates’ attorneys will have a chance to respond and then the judge could turn the whole thing over to a special receiver who would oversee the prison system’s mental health reforms.
…Adding… IDOC…
We are disappointed by the court’s findings but remain committed to continuing to improve the quality of care for offenders on the mental health caseload. It’s important to point out that the court noted IDOC’s serious efforts to improve the care for offenders with mental illness and outlined several accomplishments, including:
· The Department has implemented policies and procedures to improve mental health services.
· The Department has invested more than $45 million to build new facilities and rehabilitate existing facilities to provide mental health services to offenders.
· Plans are in place to construct a $150 million mental health and general medicine hospital for seriously mentally ill offenders.
In addition to these considerable improvements, other steps have been made to improve outcomes:
· The Department has reduced segregation time by 47.5% since 2015 and has drastically increased out of cell time for offenders who are housed in segregation.
· The Department has invested thousands of hours providing critical training for staff, which equips them with the knowledge and skills to safely defuse situations and meet the unique needs of the mentally ill population.
· The Department created the position of Correctional Treatment Officer, which requires a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice, psychology, or social work. In the past year, the Department has hired dozens of Correctional Treatment Officers for Joliet and Elgin Treatment Centers.
· The Department has implemented additional programming for offenders who are on the mental health caseload.
The Department acknowledges its need for additional mental health professionals, and has been laser focused on recruiting new staff. We have dramatically increased our presence at hiring events throughout the state. In addition, we are expanding our partnerships with Southern Illinois University and the University of Illinois.
…Adding… Keep in mind here that this lawsuit was filed eleven years ago. It’s been a problem for a very long time.
* Candidates love to shake hands and distribute campaign fliers at Metra and CTA train stations, but Sen. Tom Cullerton (D-Villa Park) adds a twist to that tradition…
I like it.
* The Question: Have you seen any memorable campaign lit this fall? Tell us about it.
*** UPDATE *** A friend of mine who always, always takes Republican primary ballots and lives in a very Republican area says he’s now received 7 mailers from the Democratic Party of Illinois and nothing from the state Republicans or the Rauner campaign. Here’s the latest…
WEDS, 1:30PM: Women accuse Cure Violence, formerly CeaseFire, of culture of rampant sexual abuse
Women file suits with Illinois Department of Human Rights, federal court
WHO: Ameena Matthews, star of the award-winning documentary about CeaseFire, “The Interrupters”; Angalia Bianca and Lakisha McGowan, women employees and former employees of Cure Violence, the organization formerly known as CeaseFire; attorney Ed Mullen
WHERE: Union League Club of Chicago, Room 700, 65 W. Jackson Blvd, Chicago, IL 60604
WHEN: Wednesday, October 31, 2018, 1:30PM
WHAT: Women employees and former employees at Cure Violence, formerly known as CeaseFire, a project of the University of Illinois at Chicago, will hold a press conference on Wednesday to come forward about their experiences being sexually abused and harassed at work and the resulting federal lawsuit, Illinois Department of Human Rights and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission complaints.
*** UPDATE *** ILGOP…
Last night, it was reported that a federal judge has refused a motion from the Democratic Party of Illinois to dismiss the case filed by Alaina Hampton alleging sexual harassment within the organization. This means that DPI and Speaker Madigan will enter Election Day next Tuesday with a cloud of harassment and intimidation hanging over their heads.
Illinois Republican Party Executive Director Travis Sterling issued the following statement:
“The judge’s denial of this motion to dismiss further proves that the Democratic Party of Illinois and the rest of Mike Madigan’s operation has fostered a culture of harassment, intimidation, and bullying. Madigan tried to keep this hidden and he has only shown faux remorse now that he’s been caught. What’s shameful is that while other Democrats spoke out against Mike Madigan when these allegations first surfaced, JB Pritzker couldn’t muster a single criticism of Madigan. Pritzker is Madigan’s handpicked candidate and he put his campaign ahead of the concerns of women.” - Illinois Republican Party Executive Director Travis Sterling
Ellis said she found lacking the state Democratic Party’s attempt to argue it could not be considered Hampton’s employer, noting Hampton worked on Democratic political campaigns under the watch and thumb of Speaker Madigan, and Madigan was involved in the decisions concerning her continued employment with his political organizations. Essentially, the judge determined the campaign organizations under Madigan’s sway are close enough to the Illinois Democratic Party to allow Hampton’s lawsuit to continue against all the political organizations Madigan controls, including the state party.
“As the Chairman of all four Defendants, Madigan controls their bank accounts, has the ability to transfer money between the accounts, and controls the employment decisions for each Defendant,” Ellis wrote in her six-page decision. “Madigan took an active role in assigning Hampton to various positions working for the Defendants and he made these decisions in his capacity as Chairman of DPI (Democratic Party of Illinois).”
The cancer-causing gas released by Sterigenics in west suburban Willowbrook is so dangerous the company is violating state laws intended to protect Illinoisans from harmful pollution, according to a bipartisan lawsuit filed Tuesday.
Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat who isn’t running for re-election, and Robert Berlin, the Republican state’s attorney of DuPage County, urged a state court to either shut down Sterigenics or enforce more stringent limits on its emissions of ethylene oxide, a toxic chemical that increases the long-term risks of breast cancer and lymphomas at extremely low levels.
By filing their complaint at the state level, Madigan and Berlin sidestepped federal regulations that haven’t been updated to reflect the chemical’s long-studied dangers. They also increased the legal and political pressure on a company owned in part by a private equity firm co-founded by Gov. Bruce Rauner, a Republican on the Nov. 6 ballot who initially downplayed the pollution problems before joining officials from both political parties calling for Sterigenics to shut down its local operations.
The 21-page lawsuit, filed in DuPage County Circuit Court, provides new details about how Sterigenics uses ethylene oxide to sterilize medical instruments, pharmaceutical drugs and food. While annual emissions from the Willowbrook facility generally have declined during the past 25 years, company-provided records cited in the complaint show it released more than 254,000 pounds of the chemical into surrounding neighborhoods between 1993 and 2017.
* The lawsuit (click here) quotes the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry on July 26…
These elevated risks present a public health hazard to these populations.
“This is not an emergency, this is not a public health immediate crisis, this is something we’re managing”
Rauner’s IEPA then punted to the attorney general.
The lawsuit is filed on some pretty broad grounds, including “creating a public nuisance.” We’ll see how it works out, but at least somebody is doing something.
…Adding… Sen. Curran…
State Sen. John Curran (R-41st District) is commending the Illinois Attorney General and the DuPage County State’s Attorney for filing a lawsuit against Sterigenics, which will provide temporary relief for area residents concerned about the release of ethylene oxide into their communities. At the same time, Curran is reiterating his call for the Illinois Senate to advance his legislation that addresses this critical public health issue.
“While today’s action has taken longer than I would have liked, I am thankful for the thoroughness and support provided by the Illinois Attorney General and DuPage County State’s Attorney,” said Curran. “It is clear in reading their release that if we’re going to adequately address this issue, and bring peace of mind to the residents in Willowbrook and surrounding communities, then the Illinois Legislature is going to have to act. And we must act now.”
In their release announcing the lawsuit, the Attorney General and DuPage County State’s Attorney “called on the Illinois General Assembly to address the public health impacts from the use of ethylene oxide.”
Curran, the only member of the Senate to introduce legislation addressing this issue, filed Senate Bill 3630 on Sept. 5th, which would reopen Sterigenics’ current air permit for an additional public comment period and hearing process at the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA). He’s also introduced Senate Bill 3640, which would immediately prohibit all non-medical uses of ethylene oxide while moving toward a complete ban throughout Illinois by 2022.
“I want to reiterate my call that Senate President John Cullerton advance the legislation I introduced in the Senate so we can bring peace of mind to those being adversely impacted,” said Curran. “I also look forward to working with the Attorney General and DuPage County State’s Attorney on advancing my legislation, and welcome their continued support and expertise to ensure the measure’s success.”
*** UPDATE *** From Sterigenics…
Sterigenics is disappointed that the Illinois Attorney General has chosen to assert “air pollution” and “public nuisance” claims against the company’s Willowbrook facility. The lawsuit filed today expressly recognizes that Sterigenics has operated, and continues to operate, well within the limits of its permit and the regulations. Any action brought against a business operating well within regulatory limits sets an extremely bad precedent.
The sterilization process that we operate is the only one approved by the Food and Drug Administration for sterilizing many vital medical instruments, devices and surgical kits, necessary for surgeries and other health care procedures. As such, any disruption to the operations of the Sterigenics Willowbrook facility would seriously undermine the ability to proceed with scheduled surgeries and procedures and would put patients’ lives at risk.
By properly controlling emissions and preventing life-threatening infection, the Willowbrook facility serves to improve public health every day. We will work with public officials to achieve the appropriate limits to allay the concerns of the community and the regulatory agencies. However, we will vigorously defend ourselves against this lawsuit.
TV and radio DMAs (designated market areas) cross state lines in various parts of the country, and much of the time that works out just fine—particularly for brand advertising and merchants that routinely draw customers from a wide region. But when it comes to political advertising, an ad for a local candidate in State X is, of course, useless for a person who lives and votes in neighboring State Y. Yet this person still has to endure the message because of DMA bleed-over.
According to an Ad Age Datacenter analysis of political-ad spending from Kantar Media, the problem is most maddeningly acute in the St. Louis DMA. From January 2017 through Election Day next month (including advance bookings), 47 percent of the spending on TV and radio political ads for races tracked by Kantar directed at the Missouri city and its suburbs are for Illinois candidates. That equates to $29 million of the $62.1 million in Republican and Democratic spending in the St. Louis market (both by candidates themselves and groups, such as PACs, supporting them) tallied by Datacenter.
Illinoisans make up 695,117 out of the region’s 2,916,447 people. So, that works out to 31 percent of the population. In other words, Illinoisans are less than a third of the area’s population, but our candidates are spending almost half the money on STL TV.
As of Tuesday, about 600,000 ballots had been cast either at the polls or via mail. That’s double the number cast as of this time last week, according to the Illinois State Board of Elections.
This year’s number is creeping up on the early voting tally from 2014, which was about 800,000, but still has a way to go to match the 1.9 million early votes cast in 2016.
Only Rhode Island, Delaware and Alaska give their attorneys general exclusive criminal jurisdiction, according to the National Association of Attorneys General. In six other states, Connecticut among them, attorneys general have no criminal jurisdiction, the group says. The rest, Illinois included, impose varying levels of impediments.
* Speaking of the Madigan family…
Speaker Michael Madigan transfers $1 million to the Democratic Majority, of which he is chairman. The political party committee can then transfer unlimited funds to any political candidate. #twillhttps://t.co/pyke32km9A
Friends of MJM has raised more than $11.5 million since the House Speaker busted the contribution caps in August. Madigan’s personal committee has transferred out about $4 million in that same time period.
Sunday, the Richland County Republican Central Committee hosted their annual fall event at Olney City Park. The community building was filled with republicans from the top down.
In a surprise visit, Governor Bruce Rauner made an appearance to meet and greet his Illinois constituents. He also took the microphone and showed his support for republican candidates here in Richland County; for County Council, Tim Grove, and Mike Hann as candidate for County Treasurer. […]
The governor thanked J.C., then spoke to the gathered crowd. “Thank you for being republicans and thank you for your commitment to the republican party. I want to say a quick hello. I’m on my way to Murphysboro, and I’m riding a motorcycle today…..a beautiful fall day. […]
Amid rousing cheers and appreciative applause, the governor made toward the front of the community center, a man keeping his schedule on his own whistle stop tour of southern Illinois.
The governor stopped for a photo op with Mike Hann on one side and Tim Grove on the other. With handshakes all around, he at last climbed on his iron horse to move on down the road.
The Governor, dressed in black leather riding gear, headed for Murphysboro on a large, throbbing jet black motorcycle. He left Olney to cheers and undoubtedly heads for more at his next stop ‘on the trail’.
Over the weekend, likely GOP voters received mailers from @BruceRauner's campaign, rating them on voter participation. It's a toned-down version of "voter shaming" letters that went out in March naming specific neighbors—@illinoissbe said those 3rd party mailers made voters upset pic.twitter.com/IuvvvqgoiD
h/t to @amaloney24 for pointing out that @sissenberg's 2012 @victorylab book went into detail about these "voter shaming" tactics. From this early 2016 WaPo piece: voter shaming mailers "could boost turnout by up to 2.5 percent" @MoveOn used them in 2012 https://t.co/eEROb7DiLj
In the weeks before Pritzker cast his ballot last month, his campaign had sent two rounds of vote-by-mail applications to 2.5 million likely voters around Illinois, the campaign said. Campaign finance records show the Pritzker campaign paid $1.2 million to Chicago-based firm The Strategy Group, Inc. for the first round of applications, which went out in early September, and spent an additional $1 million on the second round of mailings, which were sent later in the month.
Rauner is not doing a vote-by-mail application drive this campaign cycle, breaking tradition from the last few general elections when the gubernatorial candidates from both parties had done so. […]
Though local election authorities don’t keep track of which vote-by-mail applications come in through specific channels like the Pritzker campaign, the campaign can still keep track via information provided by the U.S. Postal Service. The applications sent out to likely voters also had pre-paid return envelopes, which allows the Pritzker campaign to keep a running tally of how many vote-by-mail applications the Democrat has spurred.
The Pritzker campaign told The Daily Line on Monday that the latest numbers indicate 200,000 of the 450,000 vote-by-mail applications originated from Pritzker’s mailings.
Emphasis added.
*** UPDATE *** The Rauner campaign insists it did do a vote-by-mail campaign. “Mail, digital, texting, doors, phones,” I was told.
Pat Brady: “There have been races where candidates were 15, 20 points down and ended up winning by 10. The 15-20 points numbers we saw from a couple of polls [are] inherently unreliable. So it’s a lot closer than that and no Republican I think is resigned at the governor losing. So we’ll see what happens in two weeks. The polls have been wrong the last four or five election cycles.”
On the GOP appealing to Chicago voters through ‘bread-and-butter’ issues
Brady: “The case can be made that the irritation at living in the city—and I’m a surburban guy, but I have lived in the city in my life—[are] taxes and services, and bread-and-butter issues that Republicans have to make the case they can do a better job delivering, particularly on property taxes and education. You want to be able to send your kids to school and get a good education. So there are issues that I think Republican philosophies will work better but we just need to get that message out more and get candidates to run and raise money and do it. The taxes are driving people and business out—and for no reason. Like I said before, there is no better city in the world I don’t think than Chicago, we just have to make it a livable place. And I think the Republican platform in general—outside some of maybe the social stuff—can work in an urban environment, we just have to have good messengers.”
“We just have to have good messengers” and we’ll win Chicago [exclamation point] Hooray [three exclamation points]
* This is not really what the bill says and it’s not at all clear that Dan Proft’s papers would feel any impact. Politico…
A bill has popped up in Springfield that would require partisan (or biased) news sites to disclose the money they spend featuring candidates and causes. Neither Proft nor his newspapers are named in the proposed legislation, but it’s clear they would be affected by its passage.
“Political action committees funded by billionaires are using propaganda to confuse and mislead voters,” Democratic state Rep. Rob Martwick told POLITICO. He’s sponsoring the bill along with Republican state Rep. Steve Andersson from Geneva. “The public has every right to know that an article that has been pushed in front of them is nothing more than political advertising and it’s our responsibility to ensure they are not duped.”
Proft calls the measure “thuggery masquerading as legislation,” saying in an email, “We do not ’spend money on candidates’ any more than the Sun-Times ’spends money on candidates’ to promote every leftist candidate in Illinois spouting cultural Marxist pablum.” He called the legislation “a thinly-veiled attempt to eliminate news and views that both the Chicago Democrat crime families and establishment surrender Republicans who run this catastrophe of a state don’t like. We’ll fight them and anyone else who thinks the First Amendment doesn’t apply to the state of Illinois.”
Andersson says Proft’s web sites lack journalistic integrity. “Proft would argue his newspapers are ‘real,’ (but) even a fairly cursory look at the articles would demonstrate the clear bias,” he said.
Not-so-coincidental irony: Martwick’s Nov. 6 opponent, Ammie Kassem, is backed by Proft.
Provides that any expenditure made by a news publication or an entity that owns a news publication for the purpose of supporting or opposing a public official or candidate shall be treated as an in-kind contribution for the purposes of the Code.
As used in this Section only, “expenditure” does not include normal publication costs associated with a news story, commentary, or editorial, but does include costs associated with advertising related to a particular news story, commentary, or editorial.
* Martwick is trying to regulate ads like this one that ran on Facebook…
As the Chicago Tribune reported earlier this year, sometimes Proft’s Liberty Principles PAC will pay Proft’s LGIS to print paper versions of its editions and mail them to voters. And sometimes Proft will feature an article from one of his papers in a TV ad, like this one for former Rep. Dwight Kay…
But there is at least the appearance of a firewall. And as long as that legal firewall exists, this bill will likely accomplish nothing.
…Adding… And, as some have rightly pointed out in comments, if it does apply to Proft, then any news media that promotes a column or negative news story would have to register, and that ain’t gonna fly. There’s still a 1st Amendment.
*** UPDATE *** From Rep. Martwick…
Thanks for writing about the recent legislation filed by myself and Rep. Steve Andersson. I admit that any time we seek to regulate speech, we must proceed carefully. This is a first attempt that will be extensively and fully vetted through many committee hearings, to ensure that we do not have unintended consequences. However, I believe our intention is just. Reading the “tin-foil hat” conspiracy rant that Mr. Proft made in response to this bill, is all the clarity I need to see that I’m headed in the right direction. Proft’s papers are propaganda, plain and simple. Everyone has the right to free speech, but that is not without regulation. You cannot yell fire in a crowded theater and you cannot libel someone. However, a better comparison is to the “articles” run on your blog, which carry the disclaimer “the following is a paid advertisement.” It is a permissible regulation to ensure the readers know that what they are reading is a paid advertisement, so that they are not duped into believing the advertisement is journalism. Why should political advertising be done any differently? Proft runs the PAC that supports candidates. He owns the “newspapers” that write the stories. Then he pays to have those stories pushed and promoted on social media and search engines. That expenditure is a political expenditure and should be reported as such. This will not stop him from publishing his propaganda papers. He can write all the fake news stories he wants. This will only require that he add a modicum of transparency to the reader. As you wrote earlier, Mr. Proft lost a suit he filed, which shows exactly his intention. He wishes to be able to spend as much money as he wants, without being subject to any type of transparency or disclosure. This is propaganda and history has shown that it leads to very very bad consequences. I realize that any attempt to regulate this will be difficult, but this is a struggle worth having.
I voluntarily label ads as ads. I don’t need or want the government telling me what to do. And those ads Proft is running are political in nature, but if you’re going to regulate that stuff as campaign expenditures then every promoted tweet of a newspaper’s endorsements would also have to be labeled as such and I think the Illinois Press Association would have words with the sponsor. For instance, if the Sun-Times put any money behind this tweet should they have to report it? I would say “No”…
The Chicago Sun-Times endorses @robertmartwick for Illinois House in the 19th District. "To stop middle- and working-class families from fleeing the state, Martwick is convinced Illinois must change the way it taxes income." #twillhttps://t.co/5im1I5GPe8
ABATE of Illinois Political Action Committee is disappointed in Governor Rauner signing an executive order opening Illinois roads to autonomous vehicles with no safeguards. it has been our policy when working with elected officials on issues to hear what they say, but see what they do.
We believe that the Governor’s actions are a serious departure from discussions and intentions communicated to our committee, and represent a danger to the lives of motorcyclists on Illinois roadways.
For these reasons ABATE of Illinois PAC is removing our endorsement from Governor Rauner’s re-election campaign. ABATE is an independent organization representing Motorcyclists in Illinois, and we hope that by removing this endorsement other elected officials realize how seriously we take the issue of autonomous vehicles on Illinois roadways.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner showed up at the rally despite years of actively distancing himself from the controversial president — at least until recently when the governor sought to try to unify core social conservatives angry with his signature on laws expanding abortion, immigration and transgender rights.
Trump made no mention of Rauner, who sat off to the side in bleachers far behind the main podium. Wearing a motorcycle vest and a baseball cap affirming the pro-police message “Back the Blue,” Rauner did not address the audience.
While Rauner was Downstate, Democratic challenger J.B. Pritzker was campaigning in the west and northwest suburbs while adding $10 million to his own already record-shattering self-funding mark, bringing it to more than $171.5 million since he launched his campaign fund in March of last year.
Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, who must reclaim the GOP base to win re-election, showed up in the audience at President Donald Trump’s southern Illinois rally on Saturday, though Trump never mentioned the governor in his remarks nor invited him to the stage.
If it was a deliberate snub, it was was a remarkable rebuff — a Republican president ignoring a GOP governor who is struggling to win a second term against Democrat J.B. Pritzker. Or Rauner’s team may have said it’s OK to ignore him as he continues to try to have it both ways when it comes to Trump. […]
I heard that Rauner’s team was trying to arrange a last-minute private meeting with Trump, a move calculated to try to appease the GOP base he has alienated so much that he barely won re-nomination in the March Illinois GOP primary.
I’m not sure that private meeting ever took place.
It wasn’t clear if Rauner had any interaction with Trump during the visit. A spokeswoman for the governor’s office referred questions to campaign representatives who did not return messages seeking comment.
