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May 2008
>> May 2008: John Howard Association Visiting Schedule
>> May 31, 2008: Executive Director Malcolm Young writes Letter to the Editor regarding IDOC's plan to close a maximum security prison, published in the Morris Daily Herald. Click here to read the letter.
>> May 22, 2008: The Association releases a report on what the Department of Juvenile Justice's Priorities should be in the upcoming fiscal year. To access the report, please click here.
>> May 6, 2008: Illinois Department of Corrections plans to close Pontiac Correctional Center
Illinois Department of Corrections officials have abandoned initial plans to close Stateville Correctional Center, and are now focused on closing Pontiac Correctional Center, located about 90 miles south of Chicago. The Pontiac Correctional Center is one of Illinois' maximum-security prisons which houses long-term segregation prisoners, prisoners with mental health problems, prisoners requiring protective custody and Illinois' condemned unit. Pontiac also has a minimum security unit. Click here to watch Charles Fasano's comments on the closing of Pontiac Correctional Center, as reported by ABC news.
>> May 2, 2008: Cook County Juvenile Detention Center Transitional Administrator Seeks Relief in Federal Court to Address Staffing Issues UPDATE May 8, 2008: Judge Nordberg grants the Transitional Administrator's request for relief, find the Juvenile Temporary Detention Center to be dangerously understaffed, and overrules Union's objections; orders Transitional Administrator to report back in 6 months in writing. Read the order here.
In Federal Court today, the union Steward testified about the provisions of the collective bargaining agreement; one union member testified that it would be a hardship to move him from the night shift to days because of his ailing mother. Judge Nordberg ordered briefs to be submitted by Monday, May 5, 2008 at 4 p.m and stated that he will rule on those briefs on Thursday, May 8, 2008. Read the May 2, 2008 Chicago Tribune Editorial about the Detention Center here. The Association has since March pressed for action in the Federal Court.
>> May 2, 2008: John Howard Association Staff and Board Members Announce Scheduled Visit Thomson Correctional Center
Earlier this year, the Illinois Department of Corrections announced its intention to close a maximum-security prison and potentially open Thomson Correctional Center, a state of the art maximum-security prison near the Iowa border. Association staff and Board members requested an opportunity to tour the facility, which is scheduled for May 13, 2008. More details to follow.
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April 2008
April 28, 2008: Executive Director Malcolm Young and Board Member Cynthia Kobel Provide Testimony to House Prison Reform Committee about Illinois Supermax Prison, Tamms Correctional Center
The Illinois General Assembly's Prison Reform Committee chaired by Representative Eddie Washington held a hearing today in Chicago regarding the Tamms Supermax prison. Read Executive Director Malcolm Young's Testimony, After 10 Years, Does Illinois Need Its Own Guantanamo Prison, here, and Board Member Cynthia Kobel's testimony here. The Committee announced its intention to visit Tamms Correctional Center.
April 23, 2008: Cook County Juvenile Detention Center Transitional Administrator Seeks Relief in Federal Court to Address Staffing Issues
The Cook County Juvenile Detention Center remains troubled and a risk to children, with undertstaffing being a principal cause. The John Howard Association of Illinois has urged the parties in the federal law suit, Doe v. Cook County, et. al. to seek solutions to call upon the authority of the federal court to overcome bureaucratic and administrative obstacles. On Wednesday 23 April 2008, on motion of the Transition Administrator Earl Dunlap, the parties appeared before Judge John Nordberg for that purpose. Employees' Union intervened and objected as the case was continued to May 2, 2008.
February 2008
February 28, 2008: Closure of Stateville Correctional Center
The Illinois Department of Corrections has proposed, and the John Howard Association of Illinois has supported, closing Stateville Prison as long as programs, accommodations for visitors and efforts to minimize the adverse impacts on staff and family visitors are addressed in the process. Read our full statement, submitted the Senate Appropriations Committee. UPDATE (5/2/08): Facing potential opposition, the Illinois Department of Corrections has withdrawn its proposal to close Stateville Correctional Center.
February 13, 2008: Report Released Recommending an End to Life Sentences for Juveniles
The Illinois Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Children, of which the John Howard Association of Illinois is a member, today released a report on Illinois' juvenile lifers. The report is the result of two years of research and interviews of most of Illinois' juvenile lifers. To read the press release related to the report, please click here. Download the report here or visit the Coalition's website for more information.
For more information, please click here for a list of selected Coalition members and their contact information. |
February 28, 2008: Closure of Stateville Correctional Center
IDOC has proposed, and the John Howard Association of Illinois has supported, closing Stateville Prison as long as programs, accommodations for visitors and efforts to minimize the adverse impacts on staff and family visitors are addressed in the process. Read our full statement, submitted the Senate Appropriations Committee.
February 13, 2008: Report Released Recommending an End to Life Sentences for Juveniles
The Illinois Coalition for the Fair Sentencing of Children, of which the John Howard Association of Illinois is a member, today released a report on Illinois' juvenile lifers. The report is the result of two years of research and interviews of most of Illinois' juvenile lifers. To read the press release related to the report, please click here. Download the report here or visit the Coalition's website for more information.
For more information, please click here for a list of selected Coalition members and their contact information.
February 11-12, 2008: (New York City) Shaena Fazal, Director of the Association’s Long Term Prisoner Policy Project and Malcolm C. Young participate in a “National Convening” on Juvenile Life without Parole Sentences called by the Open Society Institute to review strategies to provide relief for the approximately 2,400 American prisoners sentenced to serve life without parole in prison for crimes in which they were involved before their 18th birthday. The meeting is attended by human rights and child advocates and children’s lawyers. Illinois, one of first half dozen states to attempt to modify life sentences for children, is well represented.
** For more on efforts to provide the opportunity for a review of life sentences without parole which have been imposed on 103 Illinois prisoners for crimes committed while they were 17 years old or younger, click here.
February 8, 2008: Charles Fasano, Director of the Association’s Prison and Jail Program, and Executive Director Malcolm C. Young accompanied United States District Court Judge Virginia M. Kendall on an unusual visit to several Divisions of the 9,700 inmate Cook County Department of Corrections (the “jail”). Judge Kendall, who presides over the civil rights case Duran v. Dart (Case # 74 C 2949) in which the Association serves as court-appointed monitor, requested the visit to observe “hot bunking” arrangement that the Sheriff is using to accommodate inmate “overflow” and the physical layout of women’s and medical and mental health units involved in proposed changes of use intended to increase capacity and alleviate overcrowding. Lawyers for the parties accompanied the Judge, Association personnel, Sherriff Tom Dart and jail officials on the visit which was closed to the press.
** The Association’s most recent monitoring report in Duran v. Dart describing conditions and release programs at Cook County Jail notes concerns about increased confinement of inmates to cells and about medical care following the County’s reduction in hospital services. Click here for report. Read the Chicago Tribune article on a federal investigation into conditions at the jail.
January 2008
January 4, 2008: The Association received a major grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation’s Models for Change Initiative to continue and expand its work on behalf of children incarcerated at the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. Under the direction of Pat Connell, Director Juvenile Justice, the Association will evaluate the Department’s progress toward implementing a number of reforms in: the administration of discipline; development of an “aftercare” program to ensure a youth’s successful return to the community; an increase in qualified teachers and vocational specialists, recreational and security staff now in short supply; physical improvements; and, state detention standards which are administered by the Department.
January 3, 2008: The Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice and the Chicago Council of Lawyers issued a study describing the extent to which Cook County Criminal Courts are overburdened, unmanageable, costly and lacking necessary resources. The study also criticizes the General Assembly for passing criminal laws without considering the costs to implement those laws. John Howard Association Executive Director Malcolm Young was one of the advisors to the study. For more news about the report, click here. To download a copy of the full report or an executive summary, visit the Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice’s web site.
2007 Archives
October 3, 2007: Program Coordinator James Sayles and Executive Director Malcolm Young speak to an audience of concerned citizens in Bloomington, IL at a forum sponsored by the McClean County League of Women Voters and the ACLU about recidivism and prison programming, To read press reports, click here.
June 20, 2007: John Howard Association weighs in at House hearings on the new Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice before the Committee on Juvenile Justice, Anazette Collins, Chair, which heard testimony from Kurt Friedenauer, Acting Director of the Department of Juvenile Justice, a number of AFSME union representatives, and Malcolm Young on behalf of the John Howard Association. Some Committee members and union representatives have been harshly critical of the new Department; Young's written testimony which reports on the Association's on-going evaluation of progress at the Department, is available here.
UPDATE: Following the hearing, the Committee passed a resolution which adopts recommendations set forth in our testimony. Read the Resolution here.
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