4 IL Prisons Currently Not Taking New Inmates Due To COVID Surge

CHICAGO — Four state prison facilities have temporarily stopped accepted new inmates from county jails due to outbreaks of the coronavirus as the facilities, where visitors are no longer able to visit inmates for the most part.

The Illinois Department of Corrections announced on Tuesday that county sheriffs were notified Tuesday of the pause in inmates being accepted at Graham Correctional Center in Hillsboro, Logan Correctional Facility near Springfield, Menard Correctional Center in Randolph County, and the state's Northern Reception and Classification Centers.

According to Department of Corrections data, 86 inmates at Graham are currently confirmed positive for COVID-19, along with 53 staff members. At Logan, 151 inmates have tested positive along with 79 staff members. Cases are much lower at Menard, where 18 staff members and 13 inmates are currently confirmed positive, while Crest Hill's Stateville, the parent institution for the Northern Reception and Classification Center, has the biggest outbreak with 206 inmates and 108 staff members currently positive for COVID-19.

Corrections officials said that cells normally reserved for new inmates are being used for space to quarantine and isolate inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19. The lone exception for new admissions involved inmates who are scheduled to be released from custody once they are transferred.

All the facilities are currently not allowing visitors due to the outbreak, except for Menard, which is allowing visitors on a limited basis. Corrections officials did not indicate how long the pause will last but anticipate taking inmates from county jails again in the future once the number of cases has subsided, a news release said.

“Congregate living facilities present unique infection control challenges due to the lack of quarantine and isolation space,” IDOC Director Rob Jeffreys said in the release. “The Department recognizes the hardships county jails face when we cannot accept admissions, but we must take aggressive action to keep the community and everyone who lives and works in our facilities safe and healthy.”

In September, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart filed a lawsuit against state officials citing the refusal of the IDOC to accept inmates that should be in state custody. At the time, Cook County had more than 500 inmates at its facilities that should have been at state correctional facilities.

Cook County, which is home to the state's largest county jail system, currently has 578 prisoners that should be in state custody, a spokesman told Patch. The spokesman for Dart's office said Wednesday that the Department of Corrections did not communicate with sheriff's across state before making its decision, which unfairly burdens local departments.

"The Illinois Department of Corrections and Gov. Pritzker’s decision to once again halt transfers is completely unsurprising in light of the fact that for nearly two years they have continually pushed off their legal responsibility to house individuals ordered into their custody," Matt Walberg, the spokesman Dart wrote in a statement.

"This has unfairly shifted the burden to Sheriff’s Offices across the state — none of which have the luxury of simply deciding not to accept individuals arrested and ordered held within their facilities. Clearly the Sheriffs could never make the decision to not accept individuals arrested by local law enforcement into their jail. This would create total mayhem."

Additionally, Walberg said that the IDOC's unwillingness to house it own prisoners has cost the Cook County Sheriff’s Office an estimated $93 million to house these individuals since IDOC first began refusing or limiting transfers in 2020.

In Will County, 25 inmates housed at the county's Adult Detention Facility are eligible for transfers to state prisons, but cannot be due to Tuesday's decision. In DuPage County, 20 inmates are awaiting a transfer to IDOC facilities, a spokesman said.

A spokeswoman for the Will County Sheriff's Department wrote in an email to Patch Wednesday that the situation with IDOC makes matters "unduly burdensome" at the county level. For a county jail that continues to deal with its own COVID-19 issues, the stalemate between counties and IDOC complicates things, the spokeswoman said and has a trickle-down effect on issues like the health and safety of inmates and staff members, the number of meals being served and other issues.

"This situation just aggravates the challenges that we are already dealing with," Will County Sheriff's spokeswoman Kathy Hoffmeyer wrote in the email to Patch on Wednesday.

Through a spokesman, DuPage County Sheriff James Mendrick declined comment, citing possible future litigation involving the relationship between county sheriff's departments and IDOC.

In Lake County, a total of 20 inmates (18 men, two women) remain in county lock-ups due to the IDOC's refusal to house new prisoners, deputy Chris Covelli told Patch on Wednesday. Covelli said he anticipates that number to rise as long as corrections officials remain steadfast in their current status.

"Increasing the jail inmate population at our facility creates a burden on both jail operations and also creates budgetary strains," Covelli said.

In the filing last year, Dart said that for more than a year, IDOC has "avoided its responsibility" in housing the inmates that should be in state custody. The lawsuit came nearly 18 months after the Illinois State Sheriff's Association filed suit after state corrections officials continued to deny the transfer of inmates to state prisons after Gov. JB Pritzker issued an executive order providing IDOC officials the power to decide which inmates they were going to accept and allowed to deny transfers.

The release said that all staff and inmates at state facilities are temperature checked, masked, symptom screened and routinely tested. Seventy five percent of the incarcerated population and 66 percent of staff are vaccinated against COVID-19, officials said.

Thousands of individuals in custody and staff have taken advantage of multiple on-site opportunities to receive booster shots, officials said. IDOC continues to work closely with the Illinois Department of Public Health, infectious disease consultants, and correctional agencies across the nation to ensure best practices and protect the health and safety of those inside its facilities.