Cook County DOC Upgrades Offender Management

CHICAGO — The Cook County Department of Corrections’ (CCDOC) Tribridge Offender360 is now live. The technology solution reduces the complexity and costs of managing inmate populations, from inmate intake and facilities management to programs aimed at decreasing recidivism.

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Illinois Inmates Move to Temporary Housing

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois has been in the center of prison closures and has recently added more facilities to its list. Since news broke of Gov. Pat Quinn’s decision to close Tamms Correctional Center, the state’s only supermax prison, Illinois has been in a scramble to deal with the state’s other facilities as well as its increased inmate population.

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Adapting Jails and Prisons

Creative Reuse of Vacant (Or Soon to Be) Spaces

I moved to Illinois in 1976, over 35 years ago, to take a job with the National Clearinghouse for Criminal Justice Planning and Architecture at the University of Illinois. I didn’t know much about prisons and jails then, but it wasn’t long before I found out they had become big business and were about to get even bigger.

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Illinois’ Only Supermax Facility Set to Close

TAMMS, Ill. — Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has proposed closing eight of the state’s correctional facilities, including Tamms Correctional Center in Tamms, Ill., the state’s only supermax prison. Employees at Tamms have recently received pink slips and the facility is expected to close by Aug. 31, 2012.

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Early Prison Release Plan Approved by Illinois House

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois lawmakers want Gov. Pat Quinn to reduce prison crowding with a new early release program. The House voted 68-50 to reinstate sentence credits for prisoners with good behavior behind bars or participate in self-improvement programs. The bill is SB2621.

Non-violent inmates could qualify for as much as six months’ time off their sentences.

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Illinois Seeks Equipment to Detect Illegal Phones

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Cell phones in prisons have been a controversial issue for quite some time, but the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) is now requesting information from companies regarding equipment to detect illegal cell phone calls within the prison grounds.

Other states have been dealing with cell phone contraband, especially California, where the number of confiscated cell phones grew from 261 in 2006 to more than 10,700 in 2010. Although Illinois’ numbers are much smaller, they are still increasing.

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Hospira Scraps Lethal Injection Drug

LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The sole American manufacturer of an anesthetic used in lethal injections said Friday that it would cease making the drug due to international constraints.
 
The manufacturer, Hospira Inc. of Lake Forest, Ill., had originally planned to resume producing the drug, sodium thiopental, this winter in Italy, easing the shortage that delayed scheduled executions in the United States.
 
But the Italian authorities said they would not permit export of the drug if it might be used for capital punishment.

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