One year later, inmates still gone, PCC situation unknown
It has now been slightly more than one year since 170 medium security inmates at Pontiac Correctional Center were transferred in the dead of night to Centralia Correctional Center.
There were others who made a move that cold winter night as the Illinois Department of Corrections also ordered inmates at Vandalia Correctional Center to be moved.
Now, one year later, most of the inmates taken on that Feb. 9, 2022, night have yet to return.
The reasons they left vary depending on what one wants to believe. Steam pipe issues was one that popular at the time. However, there seems to be much more to it, since inmates from Vandalia Correctional Center were also moved.
Initially, there wasn't a reason provided by the Department of Corrections. There were nine legislators — Sen. Jason Barickman (R-51), Sen. Terri Bryant (R-58), Sen. Jason Plummer (R-54), Rep. Tom Bennett (R-106), Rep. Dan Brady (R-105), Rep.Paul Jacobs (R-115), Rep. Charlie Meier (R-108), Rep. Blaine Wilhour (R-107) and Rep. Patrick Windhorst (R-118) — who presented questions for the governor and director to answer.
“I don't think anybody knew,” State Sen. Tom Bennett said recently. Bennett was the state representative at the time of the initial transfers. “There was no COVID protocol used. And then you wondered what the heck was going on. There were all kinds of rumors going around.”
Buying the theory heating issues was part of the problem, maintenance would have been a stronger reason for making changes. It was also noted that there were issues at the East-West Cellhouse, where a lot of maintenance was needed.
One year later, maintenance still seems to be an issue. AFSCME Local President William Lee pointed out in a recent interview that the building at the medium security unit (MSU) have had minimal maintenance. Lee noted a year ago that DOC (he often refers to DOC as “state”) tends to let things rot and then say it's too late to fix them.
“I haven't seen much effort put into maintaining anything at MSU,” Lee said recently. “State says they've done winterization but to what extreme is up to debate, in my opinion.”
Lee pointed out that there are still buildings at the farm (another term used locally for the medium security portion of the prison). He said it takes more than minimal maintenance for dealing with the plumbing, buildings and towers. He feels DOC is letting these things go
“The facility gets its marching orders from higher up, it's not a failure on the facility's maintenance,” Lee said. “They're told what to do, when to do it and how much to spend. That all has to be approved. So, it's not like anybody working there is failing anything. It's what they're told not to do. There's a higher level controlling what is maintained and to what level.
“My guess is it's going to be the worst condition and eventually be unusable. If you try to move inmates back in there, the state will say, 'it's inoperable.' But they let that happen. It's what we said in the beginning. They let things go, they don't maintain and then they go, 'hey, we can't do that' and they have to close something.”
In the past year, inmates were moved out of MSU because of “poor conditions,” which include the steam pipe issue and staffing issues, according to various people who have spoken to the Daily Leader.
Not all the inmates at the farm were moved south. Some were moved inside the walls of the maximum-security portion of PCC. This created some issues. The inmates were moved into the North portion of the North-South Cellhouse, which runs parallel with Division Street.
In interviews over the last year, Lee said that this created problems because you had MSU correctional officers dealing with their inmates under medium-security rules in a maximum-security facility. MSU inmates received different rights and privileges than those in maximum security.
“It doesn't need to be a problem, but the state wasn't worried about that, they just said move them inside,” Lee said. He added that anything that happens in the max portion affects the MSU inmates, such as MSU inmates getting locked down in same manner as max when lockdowns take place.
As for maximum security inmates, they are being housed in the South Cellhouse, as well as the East-West Cellhouse. However, not all of the maximum inmates remained at PCC. There were a number of max inmates who were sent to Lawrence Correctional Center, near Lawrenceville.
The Lawrence facility was a medium-security facility that has been changed into a maximum-security facility.
Also over the past year, there have been many incidents that have put staff in the way of trouble. Among these was a stabbing of two correctional officers (one a sergeant) in November.
Lee said that staffing is still getting worse because of retirement, transferring and simply quitting.
“Staffing is getting worse, we're still losing people,” Lee said. “They aren't retaining people. They can claim that they're trying to hire people but they aren't retaining anybody.”
One of the theories of moving inmates from MSU to inside the walls was to help offset the stress put on correctional officers and to cut overtime. However, staff is still working overtime and there are still issues between staff and inmates.
It's been a year since the initial and unannounced move under the cover of darkness and there are still issues that are floating around.
This article originally appeared on Pontiac Daily Leader: One year later, inmates still gone, PCC situation unknown
