(SPRINGFIELD, IL)— A new report released today at a press conference by the John Howard Association of Illinois finds that Illinois Department of Corrections has failed to fix problems that have led to severe abuse at Tamms Supermax Prison.

The report calls for legislation to require timely and comprehensive treatment for mentally ill prisoners who are routinely denied effective care, and the impact of the supermax’s 24-hour solitary confinement regime may worsen their condition.

These and other findings were presented at a press conference today with State Representatives Julie Hamos (D-Evanston), Representative Eddie Washington (D-Waukegan), and other reform advocates.

Malcolm Young

Today, legislators and reformers met to discuss conditions and policies at Tamms Supermax Prison—a “supermaximum security” prison in southern Illinois where current prisoners are sent for extra punishment.

Reformers are hoping that these discussions will lead to the immediate removal of the mentally ill prisoners, transfer reviews for all inmates, and changes in law, including regulations about why someone is sent to the supermax, for how long, and how they can earn their way out.

“At Tamms, prisoners are confined to their cells 23-24 hours per day, food is served in the cell, there are no programs or activities, phone calls are prohibited, and prisoners often hear nothing but constant screaming or banging, “ said Malcom Young, Executive Director.

The prison was intended for short-term incarceration (1-2 years) during which time prisoners are in permanent solitary confinement. However, 88 men have been at Tamms since the prison opened 10 years ago and are being held indefinitely.

Rep. Hamos, sponsor of legislation to reform Tamms, has called for “greater accountability from the Department of Corrections, clear criteria for transferring prisoners to Tamms, and limits to their time there.”

Her legislation, Supermax Reform Bill (HB 6651) specifies that only prisoners who harm others or are seriously disruptive would be sent to the supermax, and then for no longer than a year, with a few exceptions. It calls for prisoners to be informed why they are sent to Tamms and be given a fair hearing. In would also ensure that seriously mentally ill prisoners are not sent there, and that those who develop serious mental illnesses be transferred out.

Nationally, supermax prisons are on the decline with some closing or converting to regular maximum security prisons due to questions of effectiveness on permanent solitary confinement, as well as the high costs.  According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, the average annual cost of housing a prisoner at Tamms is two to three times as much as any other adult prison in Illinois.

Download Here: TAMMS Final Report

(Chicago, IL) – The parole rate of Illinois prisoners sentenced before 1978 has fallen from 57% in 1978 to 5% in 2007, a 91% drop, according to a new report.

The John Howard Association of Illinois, the state’s leading prison watchdog group, today issued a report

Darrell “Jomo” Peatry (left), former "C" class prisoner, Malcolm Young, Executive Director, John Howard Association

that reveals that of the less than 300 pre-1978 sentenced prisoners who remain in prison and who can seek parole each year, on average less than 3.5% are actually granted parole.

“Perceptions that prisoners eligible for parole are liberally paroled is a myth,” said Malcolm Young, the Executive Director of the John Howard Association.

According to the report, in 1978 Illinois abolished parole and imposed ‘determinate’ or fixed sentencing laws, discarding rehabilitation in favor of punishment. But the new scheme still left 11,000 prisoners eligible for parole under the former sentencing laws.

The Illinois Prisoner Review Board considered 6,684 parole petitions in 1978 and granted parole to 3,823 prisoners, or 57%. The board reviewed 144 petitions in 2007 and granted only 7, or 5%.

Since 1978, those 11,000 prisoners have been reduced to approximately 300 by parole, clemency, death, completion of sentences, and conversion of old sentences to new ones under the provisions of the 1978 statute.

Springfield reporters at John Howard Association press conference.

The remaining 300 prisoners are aged 50 to mid-80s, many are chronically ill, and pose little or no risk to society were they to be paroled, says Young. The parole board’s own statistics note that the recidivism of these prisoners is a minuscule 6% in contrast to 54% recidivism among the general prison population.

The report documents that the parole rate plummet from 28% in 1983 to 3% in 1984.  In 1984, Daley complained to the media regarding two specific prisoners paroled and subsequently pushed for legislation to render the parole process more difficult. The Daley-backed measures required a majority approval from the full Prisoner Review Board rather than a majority present at hearings.

Since 1984, the parole rate has averaged 3.5%.

“Since 1984, the Prisoner Review Board has shifted the focus from the prisoner’s rehabilitation to punishment for the original crime without regard for rehabilitation,” said Young. “The intent of the original laws has been largely disregarded.”

Additionally, under the current system, seven votes are required to approve a parole whether all Board

State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie)

members are present or not. An absent member or abstention constitutes “no” votes. If eight members are present, two of the Board Members can block parole for an inmate who receives six votes.

Currently, the Board has had two vacancies—one seat, one year vacant and the other two years—and Young is urging Governor Rod Blagojevich make appointments to those empty seats. “The Governor should act swiftly and nominate qualified individuals who will fairly apply the law,” said Young.

“Governor Blagojevich needs to ensure that justice is carried out expeditiously and thoughtfully,” said State Rep. Lou Lang (D-Skokie). “He needs to fill the vacant parole board seats now.”

(Chicago, IL) — In our judgment, based on long-standing familiarity with Illinois maximum security prisons and a recent visit to Thompson Correctional Center, it is clear that if Illinois leaders have to choose between the new prison at Thomson and Pontiac, or the two other old maximum security facilities at Stateville and Menard, Thomson is the clear choice.

The design of the new facility at Thompson is safer for inmates and staff, provides better access to exercise, has classrooms and other programming areas, and is much more cost efficient in terms of staff, which constitute the largest part of the cost of operating a correctional facility.

The old facilities suffer from poor and outmoded design which makes supervision difficult, putting Corrections Officers and prisoners at risk. The older prisons suffer from substandard ventilation, aged infrastructure, and scores of other problems that come with 19th century construction. Single-celled, Thomson is far superior in all respects for most, not all, types of prisoners. Its considerable benefits could also be compromised if it were to be double-celled.

As is true about the economic impacts of closing one or another prison, there are many factors concerning the needs of specific and special inmate populations which should be considered in making a decision about closing Pontiac specifically, and any other major correctional facility generally. These should be considered in detail and with care. In our opinion, it may not be possible to close any maximum security prison without a reduction in overall inmate populations; the resolution of this among other issues requires a careful inquiry.

The John Howard Association of Illinois urges the Illinois Department of Corrections to develop a genuine master plan to determine which facility or facilities could or should best be targeted for closure. Given the opportunity to do so, the John Howard Association would be willing to participate in development of such a plan or to comment on any existing or proposed plan.

(Chicago) – Inmate art has interested psychologists, sociologists, writers, and sympathetic artists for decades. Now Chicago area residents can now view this genre.

“Lights from Inside: Art from Illinois Prisons” will display approximately 100 art works from Illinois prisoners in a variety of techniques and media at the Chicago Cultural Center, August 11 through September 28, 2008.

The exhibit is sponsored by the John Howard Association of Illinois, the State’s leading prison reform group.

Long-Term Prisoners and “Lifers”
“Lights from Inside” features artists from the most restrictive Illinois prisons including Pontiac, Dwight,

Menard, Stateville, Lawrence, Pinkneyville, Western, Hill and Tamms Supermax facilities. Most of the artists are long-term prisoners and “lifers” who are self-taught and have worked at their craft without the usual tools of an artist.

Members of the Art Committee of the John Howard Association and staff from the Illinois Department of Corrections gathered the art works.

“The work represents an escape into another realm for the incarcerated man and woman,” said Cynthia Kobel, a member of the Committee. “Many of the artists must be inventive with the medium they use since few of the prisons have art supplies.”

Kobel noted, “In the past, many artists used soap to create sculpture, but the Department of Corrections end the practice, deeming the soap sculptures as “destruction of state property.”

The inmate art and inventiveness have a fascinating range:

• Cornelius Ames has built a three-dimensional sculpture of a miniature fortress with bricks made out of newspaper and water, using newspaper and toothpaste for mortar.
• Others have used bed sheets and discarded paper as canvases.
• Other inmates have created art using plastic mirrors etched with staple points. Some have pieced together envelopes to create poster-size paintings.
• At Tamms Supermax prison the only art tool is a four inch flexible ink pen tube, but men there have found that they can use Jell-O and candy to create color.

The work can be viewed on http://Lightsfrominside.blogspot.com.

John Howard Associaiton Luncheon

The “Lights from Inside: Art from Illinois Prisons” survey will also exhibit during the John Howard Association’s Annual Luncheon at the Cultural Center on September 18, 2008 at noon.

Jeffrey D. Colman, Esq. will be the luncheon speaker. Mr. Coleman, a well-known attorney at Jenner and Block, has represented small and large corporations, partnerships, and class action litigation. He has represented African-American home purchases in discrimination litigation and has litigated death penalty cases in Georgia and Illinois.

Currently, Mr. Colman is a key member of the team of lawyers defending prisoners confined by the United States government at the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base in Cuba.

(Chicago, IL) –Serious systemic problems that drive overcrowding and violence continue to plague the Cook County Jail, and those problems are principally the result of collective policies failures by the Cook County Board, the Courts, and other county government agencies, according to a new monitoring report by the jail’s U.S. Court appointed monitor, the John Howard Association.

“The Sheriff has no control over maintenance personnel, health services, police arrest decisions, bond

Cook County Jail.

hearings, criminal case processing, or adequate general funding,” said Malcolm Young, Executive Director of the John Howard Association.

“The County Health Service, the County Facilities Management, the County Board, and Cook County court proceedings contribute to understaffing and overcrowding and, ultimately, to violence. Period.”

The John Howard Association submitted on August 14 the new monitoring report to the United States District Court and the parties in a long-standing civil rights case against Cook County and the Cook County Department of Corrections.

The new report follows on the heals of a report issued by the United States Attorney detailing numerous violent acts, incidents of abuse and allegations of medical neglect leading to death or injury.

“The U.S. Attorney correctly identified unacceptable violence, abuse, and medical neglect allegations, but his highly publicized assessment that the Cook County Jail has a “culture in which the excessive and inappropriate use of force is too often tolerated” is wrong.

“The reports of violence are certainly serious and intolerable, but we have seen, and our report documents, evidence that the new Sheriff and his administration have sought to minimize their reoccurrence and have demonstrated their opposition to abusive behavior,” Young said.

Malcolm Young, Executive Director, John Howard Association

The responsibility for conditions leading to the unconstitutional violations detailed by the United States Attorney is shared among several public officials and governing bodies, according to Young.

Young noted that the President and members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners are co-defendants in the Duran case, since they control budgets of all county agencies. Cook County Courts, which send defendants to jail, are not part of the suit.

“Public officials have said that throwing more money at the problem is not the answer, but this ignores that funding the jail budget to meet constitution obligations is not ‘throwing money at a problem’ but responsible public administration of one of the largest jails in the United States,” Young said.

However, the monitor’s report does not let the Sheriff off the hook. Young noted that John Howard Association staff have uncovered more recent problems resulting from the Sheriff’s transfers of inmates with medical and psychiatric conditions—to eliminate overcrowding—to areas where they cannot be adequately supervised by jail security personnel.

“The consequences of these decisions are serious, which is why we called them to the attention of the Court,” Young stated. “But we see these as mistakes, not the product of a culture that condones violence.”

The new report also describes the chronic problem of inmates who remain incarcerated in the jail for several years and the added crowding of thousands of low-level, short-time defendants who absorb precious dollars and space the county is hard-pressed to afford.

“Despite some improvements, there are still far too many inmates sitting in this jail for periods of more than two years,” said Young. “Many of these inmates have been involved in violent incidents at the jail.”

A copy of the full report is available at: http://www.john-howard.org/

(Chicago, IL) — The Unites States Attorney today released a report describing violence and injuries to inmates, confrontations with correction officers, and inadequate medical and mental health care at the Cook County Jail.

Speaking before a press conference, U. S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald attributed many of the problems and the violence to overcrowding and inadequate staffing at the Jail. Both longstanding problems have been frequently highlighted by the John Howard Association of Illinois, the federal court appointed monitor in a long running civil rights case brought on behalf of jail inmates.

Other issues cited by the U. S. Attorney include: a lack of medical care and mental health services sufficient for the population and safety and sanitation violations, also longstanding problems documented by the John Howard Association.

As the U. S. Attorney notes, medical and mental health services at the jail are the primary responsibility of County government and not fully subject to the Sheriff’s control. In the last 18-months both have been subject to budget-related cutbacks and staffing changes which were vigorously criticized by the John Howard Association.

The jail population is influenced by policing and prosecutorial practices and by the decisions of judges who set the bonds and conditions of release for most persons who are arrested. The John Howard Association has reported critically on the quality of the decision-making process in bond courts after a visit to that court.

The John Howard Association of Illinois will submit its annual report on the Cook County Jail to the federal court next week. That report will be posted on this site once filed with the court.

(Chicago, IL) — The transfer of mentally ill prisoners from the Tamms Supermax prison, as one of the reforms advocated by State Rep. Julie Hamos (D-Evanston), could move Illinois out of the constitutional cross-hairs that the prison’s mental health policy has created.

Courts have ruled that the placement of seriously mentally ill prisoners in a Supermax is unconstitutional because the confinement is known to cause severe psychiatric morbidity, disability, suffering, and mortality.

Tamms has had a written policy against placing mentally ill inmates at the facility since 1999. However, this policy is only as good as its implementation. While the existence of this policy is a step in the right direction, it is useless, unless there is an adequate screening process. According to the lawsuit Boyd v. Snyder, mentally ill inmates have been placed at Tamms.

The extreme social isolation, severely restricted movement, and an environment that severely restricts stimulation contribute to the psychological damage for those suffering mental illnesses. The combination of the structural design as well as the functional program acerbates the psychiatric damage of inmates.

Inmates with serious mental illnesses placed at Tamms have experienced destructive psychological effects because of the long-term isolated confinement of the facility.

This is unconstitutional and it is inhumane. The Illinois General Assembly should approve Rep. Hamos’ legislation and transfer mentally ill out of Tamms and Gov. Rod Blagojevich should sign it—before the courts inevitably order such a transfer.

What’s your opinion?

Should mentally ill prisoners be transferred from the Tamms Supermax Prison to secure mental health facilities?
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(Chicago, IL) — The recent reversal by Governor Rod Blagojevich to close the main portion of Stateville prison in Joliet in order to save $31 million ended fierce criticism from Joliet area-legislators, but the snap decision to close the Pontiac prison instead has unleashed equal angst from local lawmakers, reducing the state prison closure process to an apparent lottery.

Keeping Stateville open will ease job and family visitation issues, but the Pontiac-area legislators are weighing in with their concerns about jobs, too. In another few months, we might see another prison closure lottery.

The debate about closing Stateville and Pontiac, however, is overlooking a critical issue: whether Illinois has the leeway in which to close any of its three existing maximum-security prisons, even when unused Thomson maximum security prison opens.

The Illinois Department of Corrections has operated virtually every one of its 28 prisons well over their capacity for decades, but this situation is most problematic for the old and enormous maximum-security prisons.

If Pontiac’s most violent prisoners are transferred to the Thomson prison, that move could be considered a good decision. But Thomson may be ill-suited for other prisoners.

While our maximum-security prisons are now relatively safe and secure, this has come at the cost of turning them into sterile, unproductive warehouses, where most inmates spend 20 or more hours daily in their cells, regardless of their behavior, age, or health status.

If Thompson is to house well-behaved inmates, adapted, and ready for educational and other rehabilitative programs, then Thomson will be wrong. And it should remain empty.

Illinois needs to close antiquated prisons, like Stateville, Pontiac, and Vandalia. But the selection, closure, and prisoner transition process must be more thoughtful than the lottery approach of the last few months.