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.
Read MoreMassachusetts and Illinois are altering their juvenile justice and adult corrections departments in order to comply with the Youthful Inmate Standard of the Prison Rape Elimination Act.
Read MoreSPRINGFIELD, 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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SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The topic of prison closures has been an ongoing discussion in Illinois and perhaps an ongoing headache for Illinois Governor Pat Quinn.
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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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.
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.
Read MoreSPRINGFIELD, 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.
Read MoreChicago, with its rambunctious history of Tommy-gun gangsters, political corruption, and fabled “Big Shoulders,” had to develop some sturdy, lock-and-key mechanisms for criminal justice.
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