Injustice Watch (https://www.injusticewatch.org/tag/illinois-department-of-corrections/)
Supporters of the debate class at the Stateville Correctional Center, a program correction department officials abruptly suspended last month, delivered a letter Wednesday to Governor Bruce Rauner’s office demanding the program’s reinstatement and an executive order granting legislators access to prison facilities.
Last month, Illinois Department of Corrections officials abruptly suspended a popular debate class for inmates at Stateville Correctional Center that had brought in an audience legislators and state officials. Corrections officials offered no explanation of the decision to Injustice Watch.
Injustice Watch compiled a voting guide for the candidates running for judicial seats in Cook County because, despite the powerful role judges play in communities, little independent information is available to voters about the large pool of candidates.
The Chicago Data Collaborative was founded, with Injustice Watch serving as fiscal sponsor, so that member organizations — research institutions, journalism organizations and transparency-minded groups — would work together to gather data and make it accessible.
Illinois Prisoner Review Board member John Clough was removed from the board amidst allegations he used a racial slur as a sheriff’s deputy and committed state ethics violations.
Newly released public documents regarding board member John W. Clough appear to show that he submitted inaccurate financial disclosure forms to the state, conducted electioneering with a state-issued vehicle, and was overheard using a derogatory racial slur as a deputy.
The lawsuit contends guards at two Illinois prisons beat and harassed a transgender female prisoner, and that she has been moved to solitary confinement after filing a complaint.
Larry Kurina was once paroled for the double murder he committed in 1976, while a minor. But since his parole was violated in 1976 following an arrest for possessing stolen tools, the Illinois Prison Review Board has denied Kurina a second chance. Thursday the outcome was no different.
The Illinois House of Representatives is considering a bill that would give young offenders the opportunity for parole. Despite earlier hopes of advocates, the bill would give the decision to the Prisoner Review Board, an agency whose decisions, an Injustice Watch review found, are often inconsistent and arbitrary.
A state board uses an arbitrary and opaque process to decide whether prisoners convicted of committing violent crimes decades ago should be released, an Injustice Watch review has found. The process is wracked by subjectivity, and that problem is not confined to Illinois.