State Representative Charlie Meier has joined several colleagues from the General Assembly to demand a hearing during the Fall Veto Session that gets underway Tuesday into the ongoing drug exposure problems at multiple Illinois Department of Corrections facilities.
Meier has been contacted by a number of Centralia Correctional Center officers as well as their family members about incidents of drug exposure.
“When I talk to our workers at the Centralia prison, they’re having to narc several prisoners a week,” Meier said. “Having prison guards, prison workers end up in the emergency room not knowing what they’re exposed to, and it seems to be getting worse. I think it’s time someone in this administration takes ownership of what’s going on. Instead of saying they’re going to start a pilot program in one or two of our prisons, let’s do something about it.”
Meier is upset with IDOC with lack of details about the problem and lack of action.
“They’re turning their backs on us, trying to think that it’s not much of a thing,” Meier said. “Well, when you’re incarcerated in an Illinois prison, you’re supposed to be safe there. We’re not providing that safety, and when you’re working for the state of Illinois, you’re supposed to be safe at your job, and we’re not doing that either. We’re letting everybody down.”
Meier says if the drugs are coming in through the mail, there should be an immediate suspension of the mail services until proper protocols are established to prevent exposure. He reports until we get to that point, mail can be scanned electronically.
Meier also feels prison workers bringing in drugs should be fired, and not just given a suspension.
