A newly announced plan from Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Corrections indicates the state is preparing to spend nearly $1 billion to rebuild two aging prisons, but leaders in Logan County say the current version of the plan leaves the futures of nearly 500 correctional center workers in jeopardy.
According to a joint release from Pritzker and the IDOC, the state is preparing to invest between $805 and $935 million in multiyear projects to rebuild both the Logan Correctional Center, a Lincoln-based prison for women and transgender people that can house nearly 1,400 people, and the Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, a maximum security men’s prison near Joliet that can hold 3,020.
"The capital funds dedicated to Stateville and Logan further demonstrate our commitment to continuing to rebuild and strengthen our state's infrastructure," Pritzker said in a statement. "These investments will allow staff to work in modern and safe facilities, ensure those who are incarcerated can safely serve out their sentences, and save taxpayers hundreds of millions in deferred maintenance costs from years of neglect."
But while the state plans for the Stateville prison to be “temporarily closed and demolished with a new facility to be built on its grounds," plans for Logan Correctional Center are less clear, with the announcement indicating that its status "is still to be worked through with various stakeholders and the location of the new facility is still being finalized."
Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch said he learned of the plan late Thursday afternoon — and also that the state is considering moving the prison to sites outside of Logan County. With more than 450 employees working at the prison, Welch described it as “a vital part of our local economy.”
“We want to do everything we can to fight to have that rebuilt — and on the current location, if possible,” Welch said in an interview. “It definitely is in a state of flux at this point, it sounds like, so we’ll be doing our best to keep reaching out. I’m not going to sit by and just wait for them to contact me.”
Welch issued a joint statement Friday alongside state Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, and State Sen. Sally Turner, R-Beason, condemning the release of a plan that lacked “any reassurance of [the prison’s] reopening within Logan County,” calling it “devastating and infuriating.”
Roberta Lynch, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, the state employee union whose members include correctional workers, said her group also only learned of the state’s plan to demolish and rebuild both prisons late Thursday, noting that IDOC “did not seek or consider the input of front line employees or the union in the development of this plan.”
“We have grave concerns,” Lynch said in a statement. “Closing facilities even temporarily would disrupt and potentially destabilize the system, while bringing upheaval to the lives of affected employees and individuals in custody.”
In an interview with WGLT, Lynch said IDOC told the union the plan would result in layoffs at both prisons, but positions would be available to them at other locations — though the distance between where those employees currently live and the next nearest prison available for work could be significant.
“We have a lot of unanswered questions. Can they be resolved? Can they be worked through? I would certainly hope so,” Lynch said. “But we think it would be a tragedy and a travesty if hundreds of employees lose their jobs first. … And we also do not think employees should have to be forced to move their families from one end of the state to another in order to have a job. We also do not want to see a situation where employees leave the department and there is an even more acute, understaffing crisis.”
IDOC said in the initial release it would “coordinate closely with staff at these facilities, organized labor, individuals in custody, and other stakeholders to ensure a smooth the rebuilding process and the department is continuing its work to hire for a number of open positions.”
In a follow-up statement to WGLT, the agency emphasized it “has the authority to rebuild prisons unilaterally” and “must and will bargain over the impact of these changes on union employees.”
And while union leadership and state and local government leaders all expressed concerns over the fluid nature of the plan as proposed, they all also agreed the need to make serious investments into the repair of the prisons is justified.
According to the joint release from IDOC and Pritzker, Stateville and Logan correctional centers have been targeted after a 2023 report identified them as among three prisons whose dilapidated conditions are pushing them toward an “inoperable” designation. [Pontiac Correctional Center, a maximum security men’s prison in Livingston County, was the third].
The state projects an annual savings of $34 million “over the long term by lowering overtime, maintenance and utility costs on the facilities,” according to the release.
If the proposal proceeds as planned, neither prison will close until all requirements of the State Facilities Closure Act are met. Starting with Stateville Correctional Center, the rebuild of both prisons is expected to be complete within 3-5 years, according to the state.
The plan also still needs legislative approval, since the $900 million allocated for the projects is included in capital appropriations for the coming fiscal year.
