People incarcerated in the Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet are asking a federal judge to order their transfer – or release – from the prison by mid-September.
Capitol News Illinois reports the request is the latest in an ongoing class action lawsuit that alleges the state’s failure to maintain the prison has led to dangerous and unsanitary conditions.
It follows the death of an inmate in June on a day when Stateville inmates reported excessive heat and poor ventilation.
Attorneys for the prisoners point to a state-commissioned report from last year that called Stateville and two other prisons nearly – quote – “inoperable.”
Governor JB Pritzker used the same report as basis for announcing plans earlier this year to close and rebuild Stateville and Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln.
