Vandalia Correctional Center is a male minimum-security prison. It is located in Vandalia, Illinois about four and a half hours south of Chicago and one and a half hours southeast of Springfield.
Vital Statistics:
Population: 1,748
Rated Capacity: 1,100
Operational Capacity: 1,784
Average Annual Cost
Per Inmate: $23,528
Average Length of Stay: 7 months, 15 days
Average Age: 34
(Source: IDOC 6/20/2011)
Key Observations:
- Vandalia suffers from overcrowding, which is compounded by the deteriorating physical state of some of its housing units. Several hundred inmates are housed in dormitory basements that JHA found to be in exceptionally poor condition and in need of repair and renovation.
- Vandalia’s overcrowded conditions should serve as a warning to Illinois’ governor and legislature that if they do not reduce the population and provide the funding, resources, and staffing needed to meet the population’s basic needs, a lawsuit cannot be far behind.
- Vandalia’s administration has made changes and is undertaking ongoing efforts to improve the quality of life for inmates. The administration is currently formulating and implementing a programming expansion plan in order to provide inmates with greater access to rehabilitative services, education and job training.
- The racial makeup of Vandalia’s population is about 61 percent African-American; 28 percent White; 10 percent Hispanic; less than one percent Asian; and less than one percent other, non-specified ethnicity. Half of Vandalia’s population was convicted in Cook County.
Read JHA's most recent report here. (PDF)
