(The Center Square) – There’s still no update for county sheriffs on when they’ll be able to transfer inmates that should be in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, let alone get reimbursed with state tax dollars to cover the increased costs.
The problem began in March when the state’s COVID-19 emergency was declared. Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell said they have 30 inmates Sangamon County has been holding for IDOC. He’s not worried about capacity at this point as much as he’s worried about liability.
“It’s the potential lawsuit issues of inmates that are in our custody, it’s workman’s comp issues if they get in a fight with our correctional officer so there’s a lot of problems that are arising because of DOC not taking these inmates,” Campbell said.
Kankakee County Sheriff Mike Downey said it’s been weeks since the sheriffs have sued the state.
“At this point we haven’t been told when, or how much, or when this is going to come to an end from a standpoint of when they’re going to take inmates again,” Downey said.
The Illinois Department of Corrections said it can’t comment because of pending litigation but it remains focused on responding, mitigating and controlling COVID-19 in the state’s prisons.
The IDOC website shows there’ve been 264 confirmed COVID-19 cases among incarcerated individuals and 179 confirmed cases among staff. Most of those have recovered. The largest outbreak was at Stateville. As of June 9, IDOC said in a memo “Thirteen of those individuals, twelve men incarcerated at Stateville and one at Pontiac, have succumbed to the disease.”
The sheriffs’ lawsuit was filed last month in Logan County Circuit Court.
How ongoing local arrests will impact county jails differs on who you ask.
In Springfield, the police chief said they may have to make arrests from large overnight block parties that have been flaring up more and more every weekend. Cambell said they’ll be able to manage the intake, even if there are increased arrests from weekend pop-up block parties. But, they’re still housing inmates meant for state prisons that aren’t being transferred.
“There’s a total of about 48 inmates that should not technically … be in our custody,” Campbell said.
Thirty of those in Sangamon County jail are meant for IDOC, Campbell said. The other 18 he said are being evaluated for possible transfer to the Illinois Department of Human Services.
Downey said capacity issues are a different story in other areas where daily arrests continue, compounding the problem.
“Most jails don’t have the capacity to house for the department of corrections and then deal with their own arrests locally and that’s where the majority of jails are at right now,” Downey said.
Downey said while arrests are down slightly in his area, the crimes people are being arrested for are more severe, like weapons offenses and domestic battery.
“We’ve had shootings, we’ve had some weapons offenses in town, we’ve had a significant amount of domestic battery cases which I think those are up probably nationwide with the lockdown, unfortunately,” Downey said.
