The state of Illinois will tear down and reconstruct Stateville Correctional Center in Will County, as well as Logan Correctional Center in downstate Lincoln, under a $900 million capital funding plan publicized on Friday by Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
Both investments will "begin to address years of disinvestment in facilities built almost a century ago," saving Illinois hundreds of millions in maintenance and upkeep expenses that have accrued "after decades of neglect," according to a news release from Pritzker's office.
Stateville, a maximum-security state prison in Crest Hill operated by the Illinois Department of Corrections, was constructed in 1925 and can house more than 4,000 inmates. The new facility, which will take an estimated three to five years to design and construct, will be located on the prison grounds.
However, it's unclear where the new Logan Correctional Center will be built. As of Friday, the status was "still in the interim" as the location had yet to be finalized. The timeline for its rebuild is also estimated at three to five years, according to Pritzker's office.
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Funding for the projects, which will likely cost between $805 to $905 million, was included in Pritzker's budget proposal for Fiscal Year 2025.
A 2023 report conducted by CGL, a company contracted by IDOC to identify facility needs, found Logan and Stateville have the most significant deferred maintenance costs. When construction is estimated to begin remains unclear.
According to state officials, construction will not commence until all requirements of the State Facilities Closure Act are met.
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Attorneys spearheading a lawsuit regarding alleged inhumane conditions at Stateville praised Friday's announcement, but said it should have happened long ago. Their lawsuit sought to remedy several issues, including the structural integrity and safety of the buildings, the health and safety of the water, vermin and exposure to excessive heat and cold.
Inmates have also reported a host of other problems, including legionella bacteria in the prison's water supply, infestations of roaches and spiders and frequent respiratory infections due to breathing in too much dust and unknown pollutants, according to the John Howard Association, Illinois' only independent citizen correctional oversight agency.
"Governor Prizker's announcement is long overdue and should have happened years ago," Heather Lewis Donnell of Loevy & Loevy, lead attorney for the Lester Dobbey v. IDOC class action, said in a news release. "This litigation, along with class members, their families and activists have been trying to call attention to the inhumane conditions at Stateville. We are glad to see those efforts finally pay off to ensure the safety of our citizens."
The John Howard Association, meanwhile, said Pritzker's announcement "recognized that these prisons are decrepit, unsafe, and inhumane."
"Acknowledging that both Logan and Stateville are not fit for human habitation represents an important step towards respecting the dignity and rights of people who are incarcerated, and there is benefit to rethinking our carceral environments in order to move towards smaller, more rehabilitative, modernized spaces that are adequately equipped and staffed to provide people with individualized help and treatment and reduce the suffering and trauma so often experienced in our current prisons."
AFSCME, the country's largest union of public employees, criticized Pritzker's office for not seeking the input of employees or the union in development of the capital investment plan.
AFSCME Council 31, which represents more than 10,000 IDOC employees, said the proposal raises several questions, including how can inmates be temporarily relocated during construction without destabilizing other facilities.
“We have grave concerns,” said Roberta Lynch, executive director of AFSCME Council 31. "Closing facilities even temporarily would disrupt and potentially destabilize the prison system, while bringing upheaval to the lives of affected employees and individuals in custody.”
