RichardWanke.Com

Illinois prison population surges to record high

Backlash over Quinn’s early-release program plays role

Here is the Chicago Tribune confirming what prison experts have been saying all year long: there are too many people imprisoned in IL; the State cannot afford to pay for this, and the tensions and situation is getting out of hand. Regardless of the public rhetoric, the state legislators and Governor Quinn are going to have to act soon to do something to reduce the number of IDOC inmates. Either non-violent offenders will have to be released, or the number of individuals sent to prison has to go down.

“…The state’s prison system is bursting at the seams with a record high of nearly 49,000 inmates, some 3,000 more than just a year ago. The surge, combined with the state’s multi-billion-dollar budget crisis, has led to conditions that watchdog groups and veteran correctional officers say they haven’t seen since a population crisis in the 1980s prompted the state to build three new prisons…”

“…With the Illinois Department of Corrections about $95 million behind on its bills, many prison vendors haven’t been paid for months. In some cases, fed-up contractors have stopped extending credit to prisons, causing shortages that have led wardens to barter among themselves to stay stocked with essential items like paper goods and soap…”

“…Three years ago, thinking that the number of inmates statewide would stabilize or even fall, prison officials in Illinois considered closing Vandalia Correctional Center to cut costs. But in just the last year, the population at the downstate minimum-security prison nearly doubled, rising to 1,700 this fall from 950 last November. Now, nearly 100 inmates sleep dormitory-style in a basement area previously closed off by prison officials, said Russ Stunkel, president of the union representing staff at Vandalia. The bunks are only about 2 feet apart — rear end to elbow, as he put it…”

“We’re beyond our capacity, and I don’t think we can handle any more,” Stunkel said.