Quincy Reporter

State Sen. Jil Tracy is not surprised by the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) being held in contempt for ignoring court orders and not providing adequate health care to individuals serving Illinois prison sentences.

Tracy took to social media to express how the Aug. 10 ruling against IDOC is just one of many failures of the administration under Gov. JB Pritzker.

“My staff and I have been contacting IDOC on behalf of constituents for some time about medical issue complaints from inmates and their families,” Tracy said in a recent Facebook post. “This is yet another example of shameful decisions and inactions by state agencies under the Governor’s direction that have put Illinoisans at risk. Thirty-six veterans died at the LaSalle Veterans Home, children in DCFS care have died while the agency’s Director has been found to be in contempt of court a dozen times this year. And now IDOC cannot address the medical care needs of the people in its care. The Pritzker Administration must be held accountable.”

The order of contempt against IDOC goes back to 2010 when inmates sued over poor health care and being subjected to unnecessary pain, a recent report from The Center Square said. By 2019, IDOC had not made a court-ordered comprehensive plan to improve health care services and provide more of them. To date, the plan still has not appeared. A court-appointed monitor reported that IDOC had not provided more than 80% of the information requested.

Judge Jorge Alonso held IDOC in contempt for failing to complete the implementation plan as required by a previous consent decree and failure to comply with court orders on Aug. 5. The notice requires IDOC to: “meet and confer with defendants regarding fees and costs expended in bringing their contempt motion [1556]. By 8/26/22, the Monitor shall provide defendants with a redlined version of defendants' December 30, 2021 version of the implementation plan, explaining in Microsoft Word's comment bubbles the reasons why changes are necessary to 'ensure that Defendants fulfill the requirements of the Decree' (Consent Decree Section IV.A.1, ECF No. 1238), and making accompanying edits to the language of the December 30, 2021 draft. If defendants still believe that the provisions of their draft suffice to ensure that they will fulfill the requirements of the Consent Decree, then they shall so explain by replying to each of the Monitor's comments within the same redline document by 9/9/22, and they will submit the document to the Court's proposed order email inbox.”

“The Department has been moving forward with detailed plans to improve healthcare services, completed an implementation plan on time and is working closely with an expert on those plans,” IDOC said in a statement, quoted by Capitol Fax. “The Court hearing was about the procedural disagreements in finalizing the official implementation plan for this year. The Court has asked for a document that details the areas of disagreement so that it can rule on those disagreements. The Department has been working through issues with the monitor and that process continues. We expect to have a finalized document very soon.”