News & Commentary

Early 2024, the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center closed it's doors. Alexis Picard, Legal Fellow at the ACLU of Illinois, sat down to discuss the case and the most recent developments. 

There are many actions DCFS can take to better protect its workers and needs to put in place safety measures that caseworkers and investigators have been asking for.

A group of four men detained at the Chicago Metropolitan Correctional Center (MCC) today asked a federal court to step in and immediately order long overdue measures to protect those detained in MCC before a third wave of COVID sweeps through the facility. The MCC has been a vector for spread of the coronavirus since last spring. In May 2020, 20 to 25% of the population was diagnosed with an infection, despite a lack of testing throughout the facility. The rate in the Fall was even higher. The request comes today in a motion filed on behalf of the four detainees and a potential class of other detainees. The group is represented by lawyers for the ACLU of Illinois and the law firm Winston & Strawn. Yet, the facility has taken few, if any steps, to address the spread of COVID. With COVID cases on the rise again in Chicago and Illinois, it is only a matter of time before another outbreak.  “MCC officials have failed to adopt a coherent strategy for confronting COVID,” said Camille Bennett, Director of the Corrections Reform Project at the ACLU of Illinois. “It is time for the court to order a plan for the facility – before it is once again too late.”  “A year into this pandemic, MCC residents have been left without the basic tools to combat the spread of COVID-19 that many of us take for granted—masks and the ability to social distance—not to mention access to crucial education regarding vaccines,” said Thomas Weber, Partner at Winston & Strawn LLP.  The demand for a specific plan comes in a lawsuit filed in late January by two detainees and later joined by three others. The MCC, where they are held, has had between 500 and 600 persons detained there, although it is a facility designed for only 400 detainees. This overcrowding has caused double-bunking in small cells and the housing of up to 100 persons in dormitory units and facilitated the spread of COVID-19. Today’s filing notes that little is being done to facilitate vaccines in the MCC. COVID vaccines have been slow to arrive there, and detainees have received little information and no education about their safety and efficacy. Some staff have even added to hesitancy by suggesting that the vaccine might be dangerous. The Federal Bureau of Prisons, which runs the MCC, has its own problem of staff vaccination hesitancy, having reported that, nationwide, barely 50% of staff have accepted offered vaccinations.  In addition, while other correctional systems have adopted widespread testing to help identify outbreaks before they gain hold, MCC, despite its two serious episodes, is still without routine testing. Sanitation and plumbing problems vex the facility, and one year into the pandemic, MCC residents still do not have reliable masks, and staff—who enter and exit every day—do not consistently comply with masking mandates.  “It is a matter of when, not if, there is another outbreak at MCC,” added the ACLU’s Bennett. “We are fearful that another surge may come any day now.” “MCC residents cannot socially distance. They are at the mercy of a correctional system that has so far refused to protect them with measures—testing, masking, vaccine and vaccine education—that have been shown to work.  The government must act now to avoid further needless harm.”  The filing asks the court to order a number of steps:

Earlier today, officials from the DuPage County Jail confirmed to a federal court in Chicago that Christine Finnigan, a woman with the disability of opioid use disorder (OUD), will be provided her life-saving, prescribed medication for addiction treatment while she is at the DuPage County Jail. Critically, the officials tell the court that “Ms. Finnigan will continue receiving her methadone prescription for the duration of her incarceration so long as she does not develop any health issue which contraindicates continuing methadone treatment.” Ms. Finnigan was represented in this matter by the American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Illinois, Legal Action Center, and the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center. In response to today’s news, Ms. Finnigan’s legal team issued the following statement:  “We are thrilled for Christine and pleased that the Jail intends to provide her prescribed, life-saving medication during this time. It will be a great relief to her. As we have said throughout our pursuit of this matter, the critical issue was protecting Christine’s life and recovery. We also want to recognize Christine’s bravery in bringing this suit. During the litigation, the Jail revealed that it had not provided methadone to a single non-pregnant person since 2016. We hope that the discussion around Christine’s case will encourage DuPage County officials to adopt permanent policies to allow any person with the disability of opioid use disorder to receive life-saving addiction treatment medication. This will save lives in Illinois.”

A woman diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) is at risk of painful and life-threatening consequences if she is denied medically necessary, physician-prescribed methadone during an upcoming incarceration at DuPage County Jail. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Illinois, Legal Action Center, and the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center today filed a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit against the DuPage County Sheriff on behalf of Christine Finnigan to ensure she’s provided with her prescribed medication for addiction treatment (also known as MAT) while she is serving time on a February 2016 DUI.

As distribution of the vaccine for the coronavirus moves into the next phase, the Pritzker Administration is planning to prioritize prisoners in Illinois Department of Corrections’ facilities for vaccination. The decision recognizes the heightened risk faced by those who are incarcerated in places where they cannot ensure social-distancing or consistent use of personal protective equipment, as well as the associated risk to local public health resources.  

A court-appointed medical expert charged with overseeing improvements in the health care system inside Illinois prisons again reported serious flaws in the system, including the continued need for qualified medical professionals and an effective program to control infectious diseases. The findings are contained in a comprehensive report to a federal district court in Chicago in Lippert v. Jeffreys, a case challenging the availability of adequate health care in Illinois prisons. The report, authored by Dr. John Raba, is the second accounting for the State’s progress under an agreement reached in 2019. 

The State of Illinois has not made the bulk of the changes to provision of medical care for transgender individuals in state prison ordered by a federal judge nine months ago. Instead, several Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) officials now admit that they have largely disregarded the court’s order and continue to deny transgender individuals the health care they need. This causes these individuals continued suffering, leading to harmful self-treatment efforts or even suicide attempts. Because the State has failed to act, transgender prisoners now are asking the judge who ordered the changes last year to appoint an independent monitor to oversee that IDOC finally make the necessary changes. The request comes in a filing today in the case Monroe v. Jeffreys pending in the Southern District of Illinois.  Following a two-day hearing in 2019, Judge Nancy Rosenstengel ordered IDOC to overhaul its medical care for transgender prisoners. Foremost among the changes, the Judge ordered IDOC to immediately cease making medical treatment decisions by an internal committee made up of people with no relevant experience or expertise and whose members never even met with patients. In depositions this summer, IDOC officials who are members of this committee acknowledged that it still makes medical decisions relating to hormone therapy and surgery. IDOC officials also admitted that women who are transgender continue to be kept in male prisons and routinely strip-searched by male guards, despite the court’s order that they avoid these searches. “Janiah, Sora, Sasha, Marilyn, and Lydia, and the class of more than one hundred transgender individuals they represent, continue to be denied the crucial medical care they need,” said John Knight, LGBTQ Project Director at the ACLU of Illinois. “In addition, the State’s refusal to recognize these women as who they are by routinely keeping them in male prisons where they are searched by men is humiliating and causes them extreme and life-threatening suffering. The situation for transgender men is similarly concerning.”  “IDOC has demonstrated that it simply cannot do this work by itself with the urgency necessary – an independent monitor is the only apparent way to protect the health and safety of our clients.” Despite representations to the court earlier this year that IDOC was ending certain practices and making progress in complying with other changes the court ordered, the statements of IDOC officials – made under oath – belie those claims. Despite telling the court that the committee was no longer making medical decisions, Dr. Melvin Hinton, the Chief of Mental Health, testified in June that the committee continues to decide when a transgender prisoner begins hormone therapy and whether a transgender prisoner should undergo gender-affirming surgery.  The Court also ordered IDOC to provide prisoners with clothing and grooming items for social transition treatment. But, again, Dr. Hinton testified that IDOC and the committee continue to deny electrolysis and other forms of gender-affirming social transition.   Another member of the committee – Ms. Tangenise Porter – acknowledged that she was still being asked by other committee members for her to weigh-in on medical treatment decisions for transgender prisoners, including decisions about housing, and without being given any guidance or standards for making such decisions. “Nine months have passed without meaningful change for our clients in IDOC,” added Knight. “More concerning, the State continues to assert to the court that they are making changes, despite the testimony of those charged with fixing the system. We simply cannot wait for more promises and more empty words. We need an independent monitor now.” Plaintiffs in this case are represented by the ACLU, along with lawyers from Kirkland & Ellis, King & Spalding, and Kennedy Hunt, P.C.

Souleymane Dembele is a loving husband to a lawful permanent resident of the United States and father to three U.S. citizen children. Like many people in Illinois, he has pre-existing medical conditions, including hypertension that is managed with medication. Until a few months ago, however, Mr. Dembele feared for his life. That was because he was held in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody at McHenry County Jail as COVID-19 spread across the country and our state like wildfire.