Prisons

The state Senate Criminal law Committee and Special Committee on Public Safety held a joint hearing Tuesday, calling on experts to provide evidence-based recommendations for enhancing public safety and making prisons more equitable and humane.

One inmate at the United States Penitentiary in Marion has died from COVID-19.

An inmate serving a 25-year sentence at the Marion federal prison will add 18 more years after being convicted of filing fake bankruptcy petitions against federal prison officials, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.

A Marion federal inmate is potentially facing more time behind bars after he was caught trying to smuggle prescription narcotics into prison.

A bill to repurpose a portion of the shuttered Tamms Correctional Center is moving to the governor's desk.

The bill's sponsor, Murphysboro State Representative Terri Bryant, said the measure creates the Tamms Minimum Security Unit Task Force.

A shuttered southern Illinois prison is infested with mold, dimming area residents' hopes it may someday reopen.

Although Marsha Griffin did not win her race for the 115th Illinois House district seat, she will continue to be an activist.

The Jonesboro woman has been a strong advocate for the re-opening of the Tamms Correctional Center since its closing nearly six years ago.

A federal inmate at the U.S. Penitentiary in Marion is guilty of filing fictitious involuntary bankruptcy petitions.

Fifty-five year old Kurt F. Johnson was convicted for filing the petitions in January against the prison warden and an officer.

A bipartisan group of Illinois legislators has introduced a bill that would reinstate the death penalty for convicted mass murderers and killers of first responders.

Southern Illinois Democratic State Rep. Jerry Costello helped craft the bill. He says the death penalty is the ultimate crime deterrent.

Advocates for youth are urging Illinois to end the incarceration of young people in large facilities. They say these settings do not address their needs and safety concerns.

The Illinois budget crisis could be driving inmates to drink, a prisons official said Tuesday.

Corey Knop told lawmakers he's seen more bootleg alcohol at the prison in Sumner than at any time in his nearly two decades with the Department of Corrections.

A former Illinois correctional officer received a four-month prison sentence for choking, punching and kneeing a handcuffed prisoner in 2016.

The labor union representing Illinois prison guards says assaults on staff are way up - and state officials aren't doing enough about it.

Roberta Lynch is the head of AFSCME. She says too often, the Department of Corrections only increases staff or repairs equipment AFTER correctional officers are assaulted.

A judge has given the green light to a class action lawsuit against Illinois’ prison healthcare system.