Testimony of the John Howard Association to the Senate Criminal Law Committee of the 101st Illinois General Assembly, Criminal Justice Reform Subject Matter Hearing, October 13, 2020

John Howard Association (JHA): JHA is the only independent citizen correctional oversight organization that goes into Illinois’ prisons to directly observe conditions and speak with staff, administrators and prisoners. I, Phillip Whittington, a criminologist and subject matter expert on corrections employed by JHA come before you today to discuss two subjects, prison conditions and Mandatory Supervised Release.

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Testimony of the John Howard Association to the Senate Criminal Law Committee of the 101st Illinois General Assembly, Sentencing Reform Subject Matter Hearing, September 15, 2020

JHA recommendation: Illinois should repeal mandatory minimums, thereby untying the hands of criminal justice practitioners so that they can impose individualized sentences within the scope of the law that are tailored to fit individual offenses. The facts surrounding criminal offenses vary. Mandatory minimums are a one-size-fits-all approach that does not allow practitioners to adjust prison sentences in a way that accounts for this variance, sometimes leading to counterproductive, expensive, and unjust results.

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Yesterday the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) and the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) issued a statement about a joint investigation of two cases of Legionnaires’ disease at the Pontiac Correctional Center. The Departments note that “IDPH infectious disease staff are working with the facility to collect information and further investigate the illnesses while environmental health staff are conducting a water quality assessment” and that “the facility receives its water from the City of Pontiac and will begin a water quality testing program through an outside laboratory to monitor water quality data on an ongoing basis.” It is important that these steps be taken to stem the spread of disease inside the prison and in the community; however the implication that such proactive precautions and basic protections were not in place to identify and rectify the proliferation of the bacteria in the water and/or air supply prior to evidence of serious illness is profoundly disturbing.

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It is indisputable that COVID-19 has an enormously increased harmful impact on the health and lives of people in jails and prisons as compared to the general public. The most effective and humane strategy is and remains releasing as many incarcerated people as possible in order to limit exposure and contagion inside correctional institutions. Failing release, JHA supports using the transfer process laid out by IDOC to accept people from county facilities safely and responsibly. Risk to everyone’s health should be the primary consideration and the recent court order does not allow the necessary precautions to be implemented. The period of quarantine and the need to test for the virus are practices that are designed to keep everyone safe. Release should continue to be the focus of harm reduction strategies in the face of this dangerous pandemic; undoing the other steps that minimize exposure to the virus is shortsighted and prioritizes administrative expediency over human lives and well-being.

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JHA applauds Governor Pritzker’s announcement today to move away from a juvenile justice system that is overly punitive, utilizes harsh adult prisons and is detrimental to youth development and success. Governor Pritzker and Lieutenant Governor Stratton outlined a vision to transform juvenile justice in Illinois to a system that is nurturing, rehabilitative, and keeps all families safe by focusing on what youth need, not on what they did. Closing existing Illinois Youth Centers which are punitive, stark, and isolating and providing needed support to youth in their communities will improve lives and outcomes. Putting youth in prisons does not teach a lesson or change behavior; quite the opposite, it entrenches the path into the adult prison system.

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The ACLU of Illinois, the Children and Family Justice Center at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, the Illinois Justice Project, and the John Howard Association of Illinois issued the following statement in response to Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s announcement regarding the transformation of the state’s youth prisons to smaller, regional residential centers.

We commend Gov. Pritzker, Lt. Gov. Stratton and IDJJ Director Mueller on this important reform of the juvenile justice system in Illinois. They recognize that a prison cell is the last place a young person should be forced to live.

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It is critically important that we know and better understand how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the health, safety, and quality of life of people who are incarcerated in Illinois’ prisons. In order to get this information, JHA conducted our first ever system-wide survey. We gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation for this project. To date, we have collected 16,236 surveys from people who are incarcerated in IDOC; this represents an astounding 49% response rate. Our INITIAL DATA FINDINGS show that there are areas where practices have been mixed or require improvements.

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During COVID-19, our Governor and others have shown leadership in modifying some impediments to IDOC taking swifter action to save lives and improve conditions in prison. There remain many such pressing opportunities to act to temporarily lift housing and care barriers. Governmental actors must collaborate to find ways to best reintegrate people to communities. Incarceration remains a hugely expensive and dangerous solution that will continue to be untenable.

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Joint statement by the Cook County Public Defender and the John Howard Association

As Illinois continues to take extraordinary measures to minimize all citizens’ exposure to COVID-19 and contagion, it is clear that there are places that inherently pose greater risk. These include nursing homes, jails and prisons.

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With a highly contagious disease infecting people all over the world, there is understandable concern about the presence of the coronavirus in prisons and management of it once exposure has been realized.  Having plans for prevention and treatment in place is critical to minimizing the impact of the virus. 

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On March 4th, JHA submitted testimony to the Illinois House Appropriations—Public Safety Committee calling attention to the lack of rehabilitative programming and treatment available to most people incarcerated in Illinois’ adult prisons as well as the impact of decaying prisons upon living conditions. JHA called on the Illinois legislature to adequately resource the Department of Corrections (IDOC) and to allow IDOC to better utilize its resources so that it can operate prisons that are safe and humane rehabilitative settings.

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