JHA urges the State of Virginia to pass and implement HB 2325, creating the Office of Department of Corrections Ombudsman. Every jurisdiction, state, city and county, should have legislatively mandated and funded correctional oversight; there is a national need for increased transparency and to hold correctional agencies accountable for the wellbeing of people in their custody. In every jail, detention center and prison, people who have been denied their liberty should have opportunities for increased procedural fairness, safety and access to unbiased assistance.
Read MoreJHA applauds the sweeping changes to the criminal justice system that Illinois legislators approved today. These reforms will move us towards a more fair, humane, and effective criminal justice system. Improving transparency and accountability around police behavior, ending cash bond, and addressing sentencing disparities and excessiveness will make the system more fair and just.
JHA is thrilled that two initiatives we have focused on are among the reforms included in the legislation: Death in Custody Reporting and Modernization of Mandatory Supervised Release.
Read MoreTestimony 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.
Read MoreTestimony 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.
Read MoreYesterday 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.
Read MoreIt 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.
Read MoreJHA 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.
Read MoreThe 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.
Read MoreIt 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.
Read MoreDuring 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.
Read MoreJoint 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.
Read MoreWith 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.
Read MoreOn 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.
Read MoreDecember 7th is National Letter Writing Day, a day to engage in and celebrate the lost art of letter writing. While conceived of as a lighthearted holiday to inspire people to put pen to paper rather than fingers to keyboard, this day has a more serious meaning for JHA and our constituents. For the more than two million people incarcerated in the United States, 39,000 of whom are in prisons run by the state of Illinois, writing and receiving letters isn’t an art; it is a lifeline.
Read MoreNovember is National Hospice & Palliative Care Month, an appropriate time to draw attention to the importance of using more humane and effective ways to treat and manage elderly and terminally ill people in Illinois prisons. JHA has long stressed the importance of Illinois finding alternatives to address this growing problem, which is both extremely concerning from a human rights lens and an inefficient use of limited resources.
Read MoreDenying people access to materials that are both within their rights to have and important to rehabilitation, self-improvement and future success is illegal, unproductive and unjust and offends our most cherished democratic principles
Read MoreEducational access within prisons must be expanded. In Illinois, we have evidence that Correctional Post-Secondary Education has a $38.75 return on investment on every dollar for the State. Given this figure, it would stand to reason that the public and lawmakers would embrace education in prisons as a cost-saving investment of State funds; unfortunately, this is not the case.
Read MoreThe John Howard Association of Illinois congratulates Rob Jeffreys on his appointment as the new Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections and thanks Director Baldwin for his work in Illinois over the past four years.
Read MoreIf passed into law, this bill will encourage people in prison serving long prison sentences to engage in programming that will better prepare them for reentry into our communities and reduce recidivism.
Read MoreTestimony in support of HB 2045 to the Senate Criminal Law Committee of the 101st Illinois General Assembly, May 7, 2019.
HB 2045 will repeal the statutory language compelling IDOC to collect a $5 co-pay from inmates who request medical services. Elimination of the co-pay will be cost effective, and result in healthier, safer prisons to the benefit of inmates, staff, and the State of Illinois as a whole.
Read More