Progress Illinois

By acknowledging that changes need to be made at the Tamms supermax facility in southern Illinois and outlining reforms to mitigate some of the prison's worst practices, the Department of Correction's interim director Michael Randle took an important first step to ensure human rights are upheld in Illinois. Still, the most vocal critics of the prison think that Randle's review overlooked some key problems in his review. And the Sun-Times agrees. Today, the editorial board emphasized that Randle and the state legislature have more work to do to address the facility's flawed review process and the way it houses and treats mentally ill inmates. Here's an excerpt:

Randle's reforms, laudable as they are, fall short because they rely on the good faith and professionalism of the director and his department to carry them out. They are not codified in the law, which would assure they remain in effect long after Randle and Gov. Quinn have moved on. Nor are they spelled out in the state's administrative code, which would give them the strength and protection of legislative oversight.

Randle's reforms do little to beef up the cursory quality of quarterly reviews conducted by prison staff to determine whether an inmate should remain at Tamms. The proof that such reviews are inadequate is in the numbers -- 194 prisoners have been at Tamms for at least five years, many of them unnecessarily so. When prison officials, at Randle's direction, finally began conducting special reviews of these 194 cases, they quickly identified at least 45 inmates they felt confident could be returned to less restrictive prisons -- and the special reviews continue.

Easily the biggest problem at Tamms, addressed only in part by Randle's reforms, is mental illness among inmates. The very actions that can land an inmate in Tamms, such as attacking a guard, can be signs of mental illness, and the intense social isolation of a supermax prison only exacerbates the problem. The solution to the problem, unfortunately, is undoubtedly expensive and politically unpopular, beginning with a dramatic increase in mental health services in our prisons and communities.

The paper also praises Sen. Dick Durbin for chairing a hearing last week in D.C. on mental illness in U.S. prisons. It's time state legislators do the same.

For years, human rights advocates have been pressing Illinois officials to clean up one of the state's dirtiest secrets: the human rights abuses taking place inside Tamms Correctional Center, the state's lone supermax facility. The prison has become notorious for locking scores of prisoners away in solitary confinement, some for more than a decade. Moreover, Tamms inmates have no access to a review process or adequate mental health evaluations. Worst of all, many of those same prisoners are ultimately released back into their communities with exacerbated psychological problems.

Today, the Department of Correction's interim director Michael Randle took an important step in acknowledging the problems at Tamms. But does his ten-point plan (PDF) go far enough?

The most vocal critics of the prison -- members of the Tamms Year Ten coalition -- don't think so. This afternoon, they put out this statement along with their own critique of Randle's plan:

We applaud the IDOC for moving in the right direction, as some of these reforms could mitigate the psychological damage caused by long-term isolation. However, the new plan presents no significant change for mentally ill prisoners. Tamms Year Ten, along with other human rights organizations, urges Gov. Quinn to institute independent monitoring of mental health diagnosis and treatment at Tamms to prevent the same neglect and abuse of prisoners documented in the Belleville News-Democrat expose.

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After receiving more criticism from human rights organizations for failing to take immediate action, Illinois Department of Corrections Acting Director Michael Randle finally passed along his review of conditions at Tamms Correctional Center to Gov. Pat Quinn last week. Details of Randle's findings were not made available and it remains unclear when decisions about possible reforms might be made. But a spokesperson for the governor assured Lee Newspapers' Kurt Erickson that "the governor and his staff will thoroughly review the plan and make a decision on how to proceed."

Thankfully, Quinn's office isn't the only government body peeking behind the walls of the supermax lockup. Yesterday, Sen. Dick Durbin chaired a hearing in D.C. on mental illness in U.S. prisons, the first-ever domestic human rights abuse investigated by the Senate subcommittee on Human Rights and the Law. According to the Belleview News-Democrat, Tamms figured prominently. Here's Durbin:

"The numbers of inmates at Tamms who were facing segregation and isolation for extraordinarily long periods of times, it's just heartbreaking," Durbin said. "I don't believe the cause of justice is being served in these cases, and I'm glad Gov. (Pat) Quinn is taking a hard look at it. I hope he comes up with a much different approach."

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The pressure on the Quinn administration to reform the Tamms Correctional Center continues to grow. Yesterday, the U.S. director of Human Rights Watch (HRW) sent a sharply worded letter to the governor, highlighting the investigative work of the Belleville News Democrat, whose recent reporting buffeted concerns that no clear criteria exist for transferring inmates in and out of the supermax prison.

This is just the latest in a series of warnings from human rights organizations. In March and again in late August, Amnesty International voiced their own concerns about the psychological trauma experienced by Tamms inmates in solitary confinement. Locally, Tamms Year Ten has held a rally outside Chicago's Thompson Center and sent a letter to Quinn urging comprehensive reforms housed within HB 2633. (They're also throwing a fundraiser next week.)

Last Tuesday, the governor reiterated that he has commissioned Illinois Department of Corrections Director Michael Randle to look into the conditions at Tamms. But that progress has been slow. After all, Quinn appointed Randle back in May and gave him a clear mandate to assess the conditions. It's worth asking why that review is taking so long.

Below is the full text of the HRW letter (click the button in the upper righthand corner to expand):

Back in May, Gov. Pat Quinn called for an examination of the policies at Tamms Correctional Center in response to criticism that prisoners are languishing there in solitary confinement -- in some cases for more than a decade -- despite its intended purpose as a short-term incarceration facility.  Those seeking reforms at Tamms have primarily raised concerns about the lack of clear criteria for transfer in and out of the prison.  They have also pointed out that holding inmates in solitary confinement for such long periods of time often creates deep psychological trauma which can pose further problems once they're released back into their communities.

In an extensive article published over the weekend, the Belleview News-Democrat added some valuable reporting to this debate.  Included in their piece is some troubling data, such as the fact that 54 of the 247 inmates have been held there for ten years or more.  Furthermore, 55 were transferred to the facility for committing in-prison assaults "that did not lead to serious injury and can be attributed in some cases to mental illness and a need for self-protection."  The reporters also offer several case studies in how long-term solitary confinement has led to psychological deterioration in certain inmates.  They also interview the first warden at the prison:

[George] Welborn, who retired in 2002, said he never expected inmates to be held at Tamms for 10 years or more.

"I don't lose a lot of sleep over those guys who have been there 10 years ... (but) I think they should have been given the opportunity to go back to a reduced security facility and then, if they screw up again, it's right back to Tamms. It was not intended to be a place where guys would be there for eight to 10 years."

The whole article is worth a read.  Meanwhile, on the same day, the News-Democrat editorial page advocated for instituting more "smart and humane" policies at the prison:

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