It does not, however, include details about hospitalizations, contact tracing or fatalities. Infections have increased about 23% in Chicago over the past week, mostly among people age 18 to 40, according to city Public Health Commissioner Dr. Allison Arwady. Legislators designed the Republican state Rep. Deanne Marie Mazzochi. J.B. Pritzker through executive clemency. Mayor poses question to casino opponents: Do you want your taxes raised? To stay up-to-date on our work,subscribe to our newsletter. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune). This report has been corrected to indicate that the state Senate had already passed the amendment. That tragedy was preventable.. The IDOC inmate population has dropped 19% since March to about 30,000, in part because of the nearly 3,000 early releases. An early release law is a state criminal law that allows a prisoner to be released before the end of their prison term. He was scared to death. Hertzberg has 13 months left on her sentence for marijuana trafficking. About 400 staff and 1,700 inmates are considered current cases. The House-passed bill, HR 5682, establishes a new program of time credits (sec. Read it here! WebMarch 2022 Illinois provides compassionate release to eligible incarcerated individuals with a medical professional who has treated or diagnosed the person; or (5) a prison official.8. State Rep. Marcus Evans, Jr., D-Chicago, celebrates passage of a ballot question for a constitutional amendment protecting the right to unionize on the floor of the Illinois House of Representatives Wednesday. Chaney, who was granted a sentence commutation by Gov. If you are a member of the press, please contact our Director of Communications, Megan Groves, at megan@uplcchicago.org. State Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, and then future state Senate President Don Harmon, D-Oak Park, on the Senate floor last year. To put the numbers in perspective, there were fewer than 700 known infections of inmates and staff across IDOC from March to early August, when the latest surge began. Many inmates, relatives and recently freed men interviewed by the Tribune agreed that access to masks and cleaning supplies has improved since earlier this year, when there was a national shortage. People incarcerated in Illinois will be among those vaccinated against coronavirus during the next phase, according to a newly released state plan. INFORMATION ON WHERE TO OBTAIN DATA ON ILLINOIS INMATES PAROLED FROM THE FEDERAL CORRECTIONAL SYSTEM IS PROVIDED. As for what caused the resurgence, thats in dispute. More than 1,000 Illinois prisoners to be released under COVID-19 lawsuit settlement, Coronavirus live blog, March 23, 2021: COVID-19 cases ticking back up across Chicago, More Than 1,000 Medically Vulnerable IDOC Inmates to be Released Under Lawsuit Settlement. Additionally, the Corrections Department will give credit for good behavior to prisoners within nine months of their release date. J.B. Pritzkers decision to release inmates as the spread of COVID-19 continues in the states prisons, including questions about transparency. Watson Gray, 73, died of complications related to COVID-19 on Nov. 6, 2020, at Dixon Correctional Center. A day later, Gray died of complications related to COVID-19. Over four months, only one inmate died of COVID-19 systemwide. On April 22, 2020, Chicago area civil rights groups came together to write a letter of support for the actions of Illinois Governor Pritzker. The first, Russell Sedelmaier, was convicted of a 2005 double homicide in Buffalo Grove. Illinois will soon begin vaccinating prisoners against COVID-19. The Illinois Department of Corrections and Gov. The Illinois Department of Corrections will identify medically vulnerable and elderly prisoners eligible for early release or electronic home monitoring. But they described widespread illness, unsanitary conditions and struggles to get tested and receive adequate medical care. He mentored younger men and ran an inmates chapter of the Jaycees charity, as well as other prison programs. They work tremendously hard under really difficult circumstances, Caumiant said. % In an effort to address the COVID-19 pandemic inside the states prisons, CDCR implemented emergency measures to protect all those who live and work in our state prisons, and the community at-large. On April 2, 2020, in response to the swiftly spreading coronavirus epidemic in Illinois' prisons, a consortium of the area's leading civil rights attorneys and community advocates filed three cases seeking release of prisoners. It was dropped near the main entrance of the prison near Joliet by Jennifer Lackey of Northwestern Universitys Prison Education Program. Anthony Ehlers, who is serving life at Stateville Correctional Center for a 1992 murder, said he was sick in March and likely infected his longtime cellmate, James Scott. Since March, the governor has pardoned or commuted the sentences of about 100 men and women convicted of crimes, the oldest dating back to 1978, that range from murder to cannabis possession. Editors Note: The print copy and a previous online version of this report contained incorrect information about the status of the constitutional amendment. This is absolutely a failure by the state, said Jennifer Soble, executive director of the Illinois Prison Project. "I am proud that Illinois is leading with compassion and bringing a restorative justice lens to criminal justice policy making. The Las Vegas woman and her husband, Roger, were nabbed in Illinois with nearly 50 pounds of pot on their way to Pittsburgh in 2012. The issue of early releases is a Catch-22 for Gov. People in Prison in Winter 2021-22 Vera Institute of Justice, February, 2022 All states and the federal prison system reduced their prison populations in 2020, but 19 states and the federal government increased the number of people incarcerated in prisons in 2021. COVID looks like it may stay. "Illinois continues to lead the Nation in sensible criminal justice reform with Governor Pritzker's approval today of the Joel Coleman Act," said Craig Findley, Chairman of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board (PRB). WebIllinois The recidivism rate in Illinois within one year of release is 17% and within three years of release is 43%. The Illinois Department of Corrections agreed to use its best efforts to process the awards within the next month. The couple, who had not seen each other since being imprisoned, were allowed a final phone call before he died. We urge officials to promptly release detainees who can be released safely. Once you enshrine this at the constitutional level, any change is going to be very difficult to reverse, Mazzochi said. Pritzker could slow the spread of COVID-19 at Cook County Jail, Prisons worldwide risk becoming incubators of covid-19, Pritzker criticized over quiet commutations, not releasing medically vulnerable, Request for broad prisoner release untenable on class-wide basis, Ill. Judge Won't Expedite Prisoners' Release Amid COVID-19, Federal judge declines to step in and order Illinois to release more inmates in the face of COVID-19 threat, PRISONERS IN ILLINOIS DESCRIBE DIRE CONDITIONS AMID CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK, Pritzker Signs Executive Order Allowing Prisoner Furloughs, Pritzker Signs Executive Order Allowing Medical Furlough for IDOC Inmates, Activists Fight to Prevent Virus Spread in Prison Petri Dishes, As COVID-19 Spreads, Advocates Sound Alarm For People In Prisons And The Communities Around Them, As COVID-19 Spreads, Advocates Sound Alarm For People in Prisons And The Communities Around Them, Stateville prison outbreak signals COVID-19 threat to inmates, surrounding hospital systems, Illinois prisons and rural healthcare systems facing crisis due to slow COVID-19 response, Pritzker named in suit to free prisoners at risk of COVID-19, Civil Rights Attorneys Launch Legal Challenge to Free Prisoners At Risk of Coronavirus, 1st Illinois prison inmate dies of COVID-19, health officials say, Group Calls On State To Release Inmates After COVID-19 Death At Stateville Prison, Stateville inmates with Coronavirus taken to Saint Joseph Medical Center, Alarm grows as Cook County, state struggle with what to do with the incarcerated in the face of COVID-19, Illinois inmate dies from COVID-19; dozens more sickened, Jails and prisons could become coronavirus disaster. To provide dignity for all Illinois residents in their final days, HB 3665 allows for the discretionary early release of those who are medically incapacitated or terminally ill and serving time in an Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) facility. Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-Register via AP. Matthew Echevarria's photos are displayed at his mother's home in East Dundee on Dec. 4, 2020. (Youngrae Kim / Chicago Tribune), Arkee Chaney, 76, is an artist whose life sentence was commuted to time served in June after 31 years imprisonment for armed robbery. (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune). Im open to all things that are positive, he said. A man incarcerated at the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill is among eight new deaths from the Coronavirus in Illinois, and 18 other inmates were taken to AMITA Health Saint Joseph Medical Center in Joliet, officials said. Earlier this month, the state began regularly testing all prison employees whether or not they have symptoms. WebActions to Reduce Population and Maximize Space. (WBEZ has agreed to not identify the prisoner by his real name. The man was imprisoned at Stateville Correctional Center, where officials say there are now 12 men who are hospitalized, "including several requiring ventilators.". Lester Mason, 76, at the home of his nephew in East Peoria on Dec. 14, 2020. Echevarria is incarcerated at Menard Correctional Center. On March 17th, civil rights groups signed an open letter to Governor Pritzker with demands related to prisoners in light of the COVID-19 outbreak in Illinois. Herman Townsell, who spent 71/2 years in prison for a 1994 home invasion, kidnapping and sexual assault of a 14-year-old girl and has been in and out of prison The lawsuit filed in April 2020 alleged prison settings pose a particular risk of spreading COVID-19, with catastrophic consequences not just to the prisoners and staff, but also to their communities and the hospitals that serve them., Stateville Correctional Center, a maximum security state prison for men in Crest Hill, on March 30, 2020. Similar to what happened in the outside world, the pandemic seemed under control in Illinois prisons most of the summer. The House took up a constitutional amendment to the states Bill of Rights that says Illinois workers shall have the fundamental right to organize and to bargain collectively for the purpose of negotiating wages, hours, and working conditions.. Roger Hertzberg, 76, died Sept. 24, 2020, at Robinson Correctional Center of COVID-19 complications while undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. Chicago Tribunes Christy Gutowski contributed. His wife, Susan Hertzberg, 78, still in prison, is trying to get a compassionate early release due to her age, health problems and the virus. SPRINGFIELD The right of Illinois workers to organize and to bargain collectively could soon be codified into the states constitution, and the terminally ill could soon secure early release from prison more quickly under measures that passed through the General Assembly Wednesday. Members of End Illinois Prison Lockdown Coalition rally as they call out Gov. This on its face seems like a really nice idea but well be dealing with the negative fallout of an ill thought-out constitutional provision.. Illinois has granted the early release of about 3,000 incarcerated people since March, according to IDOC data. Early in the pandemic, Pritzker signed an executive order that temporarily stopped the transfers, but they resumed in early August after the Illinois Sheriffs Association filed a lawsuit challenging the order. "What we've accomplished is really working with the state to make sure that they're doing everything they can to utilize the avenues available to them, where it's safe and appropriate to do so, to be releasing folks or to transferring them over to home detention, particularly those who are getting out soon anyway," Antholt, who works for Equip for Equality, said in a phone interview Tuesday. Five days later, a 65-year-old sex offender from Rockford, Larry Bourbon, succumbed to the virus in his prison bunk. A new point of contention is where prisoners will be on the vaccine distribution list. A consortium of Chicago civil rights attorneys and community activists who filed the suit initially sought the release of as many as 13,000 at-risk prisoners due to the virus. ,0(|GfVMJx'#Kf8Z%jZNtFc+ZT\;SUF-}T&v`)B?>7|'e=6/;_u$dNJ.U*n+Nykp$^+ (Zbigniew Bzdak / Chicago Tribune), Lester Mason was released from Pontiac Correctional Center on Nov. 25 after spending 39 years in prison for armed robbery, his third such offense. Alan has been fighting for the rights of imprisoned people for decades and has played a key role in recent efforts to free prisoners who are locked in facilities where the coronavirus is spreading like wildfire. Im tending to believe they did nothing but left him on the floor, she said, because he went straight from his cell to a hospital.. Gov. Last April, a federal judge denied their emergency request, finding the state was not violating prisoners' constitutional rights. J.B. Pritzker could help the effort with the stroke of a pen. 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