* I was given a prison tour several years ago by the Department of Corrections. We went to mostly maximum security facilities, and I was far from the first reporter who went on such a tour. But Gov. Pat Quinn, who constantly touts himself as being for more open government, has repeatedly denied requests by the media to tour even minimum security prisons. One can only wonder what the governor is hiding…
Want to know what conditions are like inside Illinois’ prisons? You’ll have to take someone else’s word for it.
And for the most part, that someone has to be the state of Illinois or the union that represents correctional officers and other prison workers.
Gov. Pat Quinn, a Democrat, is steadfast in his opinion that media tours of the state’s taxpayer-funded prisons, even the minimum-security ones, are a security risk and not a good idea.
“Prisons aren’t country clubs. They’re not there to be visited and looked at. I think we have to make sure they’re secure, and I think the security of the public is paramount when it comes to prisons,” Quinn said during questioning by reporters after he cut the ribbon for the 2012 Illinois State Fair in Springfield.
The issue of prison tours gained traction this week after a report by Chicago public radio station WBEZ that one of its reporters was turned down when he asked for a tour of the minimum-security prison in Vienna to investigate conditions there for prisoners.
Other reporters’ prison tour requests have been turned down, as well.
“I think it’s important that we listen to those who are on the front line at the prison with respect to working there and understanding their decisions regarding the safety of the prison,” Quinn said Friday. “Our corrections officials who are running the prisons are wardens. They have expertise that we ought to pay attention to.”
But Alan Mills, legal director at the Uptown People’s Law Center in Chicago, which represents Illinois inmates in legal cases, said Quinn is off base.
“Clearly, not only is it in the public’s interest, I think it’s the public’s right to know what’s going on in the prisons. Government should never be able to force the public to rely on its own version of the events. That’s what journalists and outside watchdogs are for,” Mills said. “The argument about security is hogwash.”
Mills said state officials have allowed tours of the Stateville and Dwight prisons regularly, and they have run tours of Tamms “when it suits their interests.”
“So there is no reason why they can’t run a tour and allow access to a medium-security prison. Do they have to assign someone to walk you through? Yes, but so what?” he said. “I think the public is legitimately able to conclude from their refusal to let people in that they don’t want people to see what’s going on in there.”
* Treasurer Dan Rutherford led prison tours when he was a state legislator and doesn’t understand Quinn’s adamant refusal to let reporters inside…
“I would concur with him that they are not country clubs. I would add to that they are also not tourist attractions,” Rutherford said in a conference call following Quinn’s remarks.
“I think it’s important that under the right conditions and right security escorts, that the media and policy makers have a chance to see the inside of the penitentiaries, ask the questions, dialogue with the staff and - for that matter - dialogue with the inmates,” Rutherford said.
Rutherford, a Republican, said the Democratic governor’s decision “gives the perception of hiding something, even if one’s not.”
* WBEZ wants to get inside some prisons. The station has been reporting on some deplorable conditions, including…
Overcrowding in the Illinois prison system has officials putting inmates in some rather unusual places. Men recently released from Vienna prison describe being housed with 600 other inmates in an administration building with only seven toilets.
Mayo says, “I thought to myself this is supposed to be a minimum security institution, but this was more like a maximum security institution in that I couldn’t believe that they would actually expect people to live under those type of conditions. The place is infested with rats and the rats were so aggressive that we used to call them kangaroo rats ’cause while I was there quite a few guys had rats actually jump up in bed with them.”
Okay, one last, and disturbing, example of life in Building 19. It comes from attorney Alan Mills at the Uptown People’s Law Center in Chicago. Mills says a cockroach burrowed into the ear of an inmate while he slept and it had to be surgically removed.
“The wax in [the] ear is one of the things that roaches will eat,” Mills said. Mills has talked to inmates at Vienna but he hasn’t actually been allowed to see the conditions for himself.
John Maki has. “Building 19 was one of the most depressing things I’ve seen in my life,” Maki said. “I just thought this is a human tragedy on a lot of levels. Part of me thought what a terrible way to spend taxpayer dollars.”
* Meanwhile, Gov. Pat Quinn’s press secretary told reporters last week that an e-mail exchange about moving a southern Illinois press conference was available online. Not quite…
Gov. Pat Quinn’s office continues to withhold emails that could shed light on whether his staff moved the location of a southern Illinois news conference to avoid protesters.
Even so, his spokeswoman says he remains committed to the issue of transparency in state government.
One document his office released Wednesday, apparently an exchange of emails, is completely censored — or “redacted.” Officials blacked out even the dates and times of the emails and the names of the senders and recipients.
“This is the most redacted email I’ve seen,” said Esther Seitz, a media law attorney in Springfield. “I’ve seen an email where at least the subject and the ‘from’ and ‘to’ lines were disclosed, but the content of this email was blocked in whole.
“Pretty much, (the governor’s office is) withholding the entire document. I don’t see why they’re giving you that email at all. There’s no point.”
