Now that the state of Illinois has lost two court rulings, forcing the Illinois Department of Corrections to accept prisoners, county sheriffs will once again attempt to transport felons to state facilities.
Even after a Logan County judge ruled in the sheriffs' favor, and before a judge denied the state’s attempt for a stay of the order on Friday, inmates were being turned away from prison.
McLean County Sheriff Jon Sandage brought 36 inmates to a prison last week, but 33 were sent back to the county jail.
“Gov. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Corrections are creating a safety issue,” Sandage said. “They’re promising that they’ll take our inmates, we get them on the road, we get them up there, and then they’re not.”
Sandage said he was told by prison authorities that inmates would be accepted on a first-come-first-served basis.
At the center of the lawsuit filed by Illinois sheriffs is whether the governor and the state have the statutory authority to delay transfers into IDOC facilities.
Jim Kaitschuk, executive director of the Illinois Sheriffs' Association, said sheriffs have been able to deliver a limited number of inmates to state facilities, although the Illinois Department of Corrections has said at least two intake facilities have reached capacity. One reason is that inmates who are transferred are held in isolation for 14 days in single cells as a quarantine measure.
“In January 2015, there were over 48,000 inmates in the Department of Corrections,” Kaitschuk said. “Today, by his own admission, there are less than 32,000. Now that’s a 33 percent reduction."
The Illinois Department of Corrections said it is working to ensure the safety of inmates.
"Enhanced procedures for county jail intakes and intra-agency transfers were established in conjunction with the Illinois Department of Public Health to keep everyone safe during these uncertain times," the statement said. "Today, the Department resumed intra-agency transfers which will open space in our reception centers to allow for county jail intakes to be appropriately quarantined or isolated. All county jail transfer requests are being carefully reviewed and will be scheduled."