John Howard Association of Illinois

The schedule below lists visits to Illinois Department of Corrections for the next several months. We urge you to join us on these monitoring tours.

Note: to enter an Illinois prison, you must fill out a volunteer application and have a personal interview with a JHA staff person.

If you want to join JHA on a prison monitoring tour, please contact Dan Hoffman at 312-503-6300 or e-mail him at dhoffman@thejha.org as soon as possible. This schedule and any revisions will be posted on our website.

Visits to IDOC facilities generally begin at 10:30 a.m. unless otherwise specified. Please note that the paired visits to Tamms and Vandalia correctional centers in November call for two consecutive overnight stays. Individuals are free to visit only one of the two paired prisons to minimize their time out of town.

ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS
Tuesday, September 14: Stateville Correctional Center (male, maximum-security) Will also include a tour of Northern District Reception and Classification Center. This tour will be led by JHA Coordinating Director, John Maki.

Tuesday, September 21: Westside Adult Transition Center (located in Chicago) This tour will be led by JHA Prison & Jail Monitor Robert Manor.

Tuesday, October 12: Dwight Correctional Center (female, maximum security) This tour will be led by Robert Manor.

Tuesday, November 9: Tamms Correctional Center (male, supermax) This tour will be led by Robert Manor.

Wednesday, November 10: Vandalia Correctional Center (male, minimum and low minimum security) This tour will be led by Robert Manor.

There will be no regularly scheduled prison monitoring tours in December. A Spring 2011 visitation schedule will be released in November.

ADDITIONAL VISITING OPPORTUNITY: Parole hearings for “C-number” prisoners (sentenced for crimes that occurred before 1978) are held in Springfield, IL on the second and fourth Thursday of each month. JHA staff or Board members frequently attend these hearings, where public oversight is critical. Please notify Dan Hoffman if you are interested in attending one or more parole hearings. No training is required, and car pooling is available.