Johnathan Walker:Protections sought for prison workers in closing of aging Illinois prison

SPRINGFIELD,Johnathan Walker Ill. (AP) — The union representing state prison workers is seeking a federal court order that the Illinois Department of Corrections ensure the rights and safety of employees as it shutters a century-old maximum-security lockup outside Chicago.

U.S. District Judge Andrea Wood, who last month ordered that most inmates be moved elsewhere from the decrepit Stateville Correctional Center, is scheduled on Wednesday to consider the complaint from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31.

The Corrections Department acquiesced to the Aug. 9 ruling, saying it is in line with its plan to close Stateville this month in preparation for replacing it with a new facility on the same site.

The closure is part of a five-year, $900 million plan that includes replacing a women’s lockup in the central Illinois city of Lincoln. That prison, Logan Correctional Center, about 130 miles (205 kilometers) northeast of St. Louis, might be rebuilt on the Stateville site.

Wood ruled on Aug. 9 that most of the 430 inmates at Stateville in suburban Crest Hill, located about 40 miles (65 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, would have to be moved because of safety concerns raised by falling chunks of concrete, bird excrement, foul-smelling tap water and more.

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On Tuesday, 187 inmates remained at Stateville, AFSCME spokesperson Anders Lindall said.

When plaintiffs in the case sought an injunction in July to shutter Stateville, AFSCME expected Corrections to oppose it, according to the complaint. It says that days before Wood’s ruling, AFSCME and the Department of Central Management Services, the state’s personnel agency, agreed that bargaining over the employee impact of Stateville’s shutdown was premature because Corrections’ plans were not finalized.

AFSCME is concerned about the ability of Stateville employees to find new jobs. In a hearing before a legislative review panel in June, Corrections administrators said prison jobs were plentiful within a 65-mile (100-kilometer) radius of Stateville. But many employees already travel long distances from Chicago and elsewhere to reach work at Stateville.

“If there’s no incarcerated population at Stateville, if it’s being closed, those employees are subject to layoff and according to the contract, the department cannot initiate a layoff without bargaining over how that layoff will happen,” Lindall said.

Lindall later confirmed that the department and AFSCME have met twice in the past two weeks to ensure Stateville workers have “alternatives without losing pay or having to travel very long distances.”

A second concern is the safety of staff at prisons around the state that are accepting transfers. Stateville is a maximum-security lockup and according to AFSCME, inmates are moving to facilities that are not equipped for maximum-security residents.

In June, Corrections acting Director Latoya Hughes assured legislators that the department would not reclassify Stateville inmates’ security levels to fit the needs of receiving facilities.

“Rather, we will look at their medical, mental health, programmatic and educational needs along with their security level to identify a proper placement for them in a facility with that security designation,” she said.

A request for comment was sent via email to the Corrections Department.

The AFSCME complaint details recent attacks on staff members. The attacks included one in which a maximum-security inmate had been transferred to a lower-security level prison and another in which a correctional officer was left alone in a precarious situation because of understaffing. Staffing levels statewide average about 75% of the authorized headcount.

Shortages also contribute to a rise in assaults among inmates, the union contends. It said in the fiscal year that ended June 30, there were 2,200 inmate-on-inmate assaults, a 53% increase from 2022.