Proposed closing of 4 low-level prison facilities draws sharp rebuke in Du Quoin

DU QUOIN — A plan to close four downstate correctional facilities drew strong opposition at a public hearing Wednesday in Du Quoin, where critics cited concerns about future upkeep of the facilities and Illinois’ approach to the incarceration of young and low-level offenders.

“We have watered down this program that we built in the late ’80s,” said Ty Petersen, staff representative for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31. “We have given up on the opportunity to change people’s lives in the Illinois Department of Corrections.”

Petersen was one of several to offer testimony at Wednesday’s public hearing, held by members of the Illinois Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. About 40 members of the public attended the forum at the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds.

The meeting was held in response to a plan announced in August by the Illinois Department of Corrections to phase out impact program facilities in Du Quoin and Dixon Springs in southern Illinois and work camps in Clayton and Greene County in east-central Illinois. IDOC says the four closures will save a combined $35.9 million in capital costs and $6.5 million in annual operating expenses.

The commission, which planned two additional meetings this week regarding the closures in Greene County and Clayton, will hold a final hearing during the Illinois General Assembly’s veto session next month. Its members then will vote on a final, non-binding recommendation.

IDOC Director Latoya Hughes said at Wednesday’s public meeting the planned facility closure in Du Quoin will make permanent a temporary action that moved all of the offenders housed there to the Murphysboro Life Skills Re-Entry Center. The Du Quoin facility has not housed offenders since 2024.

Hughes said IDOC decided to permanently close the facilities to address aging infrastructure and financial efficiency, among other reasons. She stressed that current employees will be reassigned and that IDOC intends to honor current collective bargaining agreements.

“This closure is a consolidation of services, not a reduction,” Hughes told the commission. “There are no layoffs that will occur as a part of this process. The decision to close this facility was not made lightly. It reflects careful, data-driven evaluation of our operational needs, long-term population needs, aging infrastructure and our responsibility to use our state resources wisely.”

Some, however, questioned IDOC’s stated commitment to its impact incarceration program, which offers qualifying young and low-level offenders an alternative to stricter prison sentences by providing training, education and work opportunities in exchange for shorter terms of incarceration.

Chuck Stout, staff representative for AFSCME Council 31, suggested IDOC intended to permanently close the facilities years ago, when the facilities in Du Quoin, Dixon Springs and Greene County were temporarily shuttered as a result of a memorandum of understanding between IDOC and AFSCME.

“Every time we talked about it, they said at worst we would repurpose them,” Stout said. “There was not a discussion of closure at any time during those, except when the union raised it and asked. We believed then, we still believe, that their intention was to close them all along, but they wanted to avoid this process for as long as possible.”

State Sen. Terri Bryant, R-Murphysboro, similarly said IDOC seemed not to communicate its real intentions at the time the memorandum was signed, adding “it looks very much like the intention was to get rid of it rather than trying to make the program work.”

She also questioned whether IDOC was properly promoting the program to judges who possess sentencing discretion. Jennifer Parrack, IDOC’s chief of programs and support services, said she regularly speaks about the program at conferences and to judges, although Bryant subsequently asked Parrack to submit documentation corroborating those efforts.

“I would like to see more people sentenced to the impact incarceration program,” Parrack told the commission. “Someone that is looking at a six-, seven-, eight-year prison sentence, this is an excellent opportunity for them, and the success we’ve had in the impact incarceration program from a programmatic standpoint, I absolutely support the program.”

The Du Quoin Impact Program first opened in 1994, and its facility near the Du Quoin State Fairgrounds was cited by many Wednesday as being among the more modern in the IDOC system. Despite that, Du Quoin Mayor Josh Downs said he has serious concerns about what will happen to the facility once IDOC abandons operations there.

“There are options there,” Downs said. “My concern is that, as a mayor and also as a taxpayer, don’t let the facility sit, go to waste, cave in on itself.”

Michael Crum, chief compliance officer at IDOC, said the department would work with the Illinois Department of Central Management Services to manage the facility following the anticipated closure.

Rep. C.D. Davidsmeyer, R-Murrayville, whose district covers the Greene County Work Camp, said the condition of other facilities demonstrates that IDOC didn’t properly invest in upkeep.

Davidsmeyer added that the promises offered by the impact program aren’t ones the state should quickly abandon.

“This is an opportunity for a better future,” Davidsmeyer said. “It’s not, you’re going to be put in prison, you’re going to serve your sentence, we’re going to shove you out on your way, good luck. We’re not just here to punish people. We don’t want them coming back.”

Geoff Ritter is a longtime journalist and editor based in southern Illinois.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.