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| Godinez: DOC chief says there is a plan |
| By thesouthern.com |
| Published: 11/07/2013 |
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The recently published editorial, “Ask the bigger question about prison funding,” contained no data or other factual support for its contentions about many topics. Safety in Illinois Department of Corrections prisons, overtime costs, savings from facility closures and inmate population vs. capacity were just some of those. First and foremost, The Southern’s statement that, “we have little doubt that dangerous pressure is building within the system,” is irresponsible and inflammatory. What danger? No information was offered in substantiation. In fact, as reported in The Southern on October 19th, serious assault on staff in Illinois prisons was down and serious assaults of all types were down 35 percent for the fiscal year ending in June. That downward trend continues. The Illinois Department of Corrections enforces a zero-tolerance policy regarding inmate behavior. Even minor contact with a correctional officer such as spitting, flipping away an inmate name tag or throwing food which might touch an officer’s foot is classified as assault. Referring to these as assaults inflates the total number, which is unflattering, but inmates know that even slight behavior issues will hurt earned time. Calling them out on small matters keeps them in line, which is why overall serious assaults are down. The ratio of inmate incidents relative to population is among the lowest in the nation, and our Investigations and Intelligence division aggressively pursues any whisper of a problem. For instance, cell phones are prohibited for inmates because they help gang-related activity. In the past two years, Department investigators have found only 29 phones among inmates. California discovered 3,000 in just the past year-and-a-half; 900 were found last year in Texas. The Southern asks “What happened to the savings…from closing Tamms…” and other Illinois Department of Corrections facilities. What happened is, those savings occurred and are building by $5.83 million every month, $70 million on an annualized basis. A one-time loss of $30 million in savings was due to the lawsuit filed by the employees union, AFSCME, which delayed the closures for seven months. Read More. |
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