Illinois prison workers and their union is accusing the state of retaliating against whistle blowers who speak out about crowded prisons.
An email from an Illinois Department of Corrections administrator ordered wardens at 10 prisons to conduct "mass shakedowns" of staff as they left work last week. The July 19th memo obtained by the Associated Press is from Ty Bates, the department's southern region Deputy Director. It was sent on the same day that a dozen workers testified at the state capitol during a hearing on prison overcrowding and under staffing.
The Department of Corrections had no immediate comment Monday on the newly obtained email. The agency had previously denied any retaliation for workers speaking out but didn't comment on whether the searches were a coordinated effort. Previously, IDOC spokeswoman Stacey Solano said the searches are routine and meant to stop ``movement'' of contraband from cellphones to weapons in the prisons. Solano says the department has the right to search employees at any time. But workers say they've never been patted down at the end of work and question whether the unusual end-of-shift checks were retaliation for whistle blowers speaking out about crowded prisons and Governor Pat Quinn's plan to close the ``supermax'' Tamms lockup.