Pritzker Administration Proposes Transferring Logan Inmates to Stateville
The Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.
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The Illinois Department of Corrections is proposing closure of the Logan Correctional Center near Lincoln and moving it to a rebuilt Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet.
The Logan facility currently holds female prisoners.
In an IDOC filing with the legislative Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA), Acting Director LaToya Hughes argued moving Logan to the current Stateville site would help “regionalize” the state’s female prisons.
“As the Department’s planning has progressed, the current preferred plan for Logan is to build on available ground at Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois. A move to Crest Hill would permit a more regionalized approach for the women’s facilities by providing a northern facility to pair with the already centrally located facility in Decatur,” Hughes’ filing states.
There’s no plan “to repurpose or reuse the current Logan” facility, according to the filing. The Lincoln Correctional Center, next door to Logan, is not currently targeted for closure.
Currently, around 1,000 of the state’s around 1,500 incarcerated women are at Logan, which IDOC argues needs to be replaced.
“The Department has deemed Logan necessary to close due to its crumbling infrastructure, outdated design, and significant need for capital investment. Specifically, there are approximately $116 million of capital projects that are required for Logan to remain open and operational long-term,” the filing states. “IDOC intends to continue to house the individuals in custody at Logan until the rebuild is complete as long as it is safe to do so.”
Sen. Sally Turner (R-Beason), who lives in Logan County, says there are too many unanswered questions and many concerns in the community about the proposed closure.
“We lost around 400 jobs when Lincoln College closed (in 2022), not to mention the students that attended there, which helped boost our economy,” Turner said. “It’s gonna be a big blow. These jobs at Logan are good paying jobs and they’re generational jobs, where an employee’s parent and grandparent may have worked at the prison.”
The state-run Lincoln Developmental Center closed in 2002 and Lincoln Christian University is set to close May 31.
Asked about the proposal Monday, Governor JB Pritzker said the facilities are in poor condition and need to be replaced.
“You have to understand that we have to make changes. This has to happen,” Pritzker said Monday at an unrelated news conference. “Changes have to take place because these prisons have not been upgraded or renovated in many, many years. Many of them are very, very old. Unfortunately, over many years, the state has neglected to do anything about the conditions in these prisons. We’re stepping up and actually making a proposal and putting the money forward to do the right thing.”
There are approximately 450 staff at the facility, and IDOC says it would work to relocate current employees to Stateville or to one of the six prisons within 90 miles of Logan.
We’re told most of the employees at the facility actually live in Sangamon County, not Logan County.