100-year-old Illinois prison must close, move inmates out of 'decrepit' conditions

The Illinois Department of Corrections said that U.S. District Judge Andrea R. Wood’s order, issued Friday, to depopulate Stateville Correctional Center is in line with its plan to replace the facility. The department plans to rebuild it on the same campus in Crest Hill, which is 41 miles southwest of Chicago.

That plan also includes replacing the deteriorating Logan prison for women in the central Illinois city of Lincoln. The state might rebuild Logan on the Stateville campus too.

Wood’s decree states that the prison, which houses over 400 people, would need to close by Sept. 30 due in part to falling concrete from deteriorating walls and ceilings. The judge said costly repairs would be necessary to make the prison habitable. 

The decision came as a result of lawyers arguing that Stateville, which opened in 1925, is too hazardous to house anyone. The plaintiffs said surfaces are covered with bird feathers and excrement, and faucets dispense foul-smelling water.

The Corrections Department plans to use $900 million in capital construction money for the overhaul, which is says will take up to five years.

Inmates must be moved to other prisons around the state. Employees at the lockups would be dispersed to other facilities until the new prisons open.



(Photo John Patsch/Chicago Sun Times via AP)