Following the incident at Menard Correctional Center last week where inmates and staff both were hospitalized, State Senator Terri Bryant is calling for a change in leadership and major reforms urgent amidst crisis at the department of corrections.
Bryant shared the following press release on Sept. 3:
Before running for office for the first time in 2014, I worked for the Illinois Department of Corrections for 20 years. I began as an entry-level employee and retired as an administrator. The Department has an unenviable, difficult, and dangerous job— keeping officers, administrative staff, incarcerated individuals, and the community at large safe.
This task is made difficult for several reasons, a mixed population of extremely violent convicted criminals, gang members, and sex offenders, a never-ending attempt by those incarcerated individuals to obtain dangerous weapons and intoxicating compounds, and the vulnerability of security systems at some aging, dilapidated facilities throughout the state.
For more information, please see this week’s print edition.