Illinois officials take first step toward construction of 2 new prisons

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois officials Friday announced their impending search for a firm to manage the planning and construction of two prisons with a combined budget of $900 million.

The Illinois Capital Development Board announced that it will issue a bulletin as early as Nov. 19 seeking proposals from a construction management and owner's representative team to oversee the project. The team will start the ball rolling on replacing the century-old Stateville Correctional Center in suburban Chicago and the Logan Correctional Center for women in Lincoln.

It is the first concrete move the Illinois Department of Corrections has taken to begin the project since Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced last spring that he was setting aside capital construction money for the purpose. Lawmakers have been wary of the Corrections Department, questioning its unwillingness to divulge detailed plans or timetables.

The Capital Development Board doesn't usually make an announcement before issuing a so-called professional services bulletin seeking proposals. But board spokesperson Lauren Grenlund said the project's scope and size and the need for some firms to show their viability through a lengthy prequalification process prompted officials to do so.

''This is a big one,'' Grenlund said. ''We don't always put out pre-advertisements, but we wanted to be sure that this got in front of industry professionals as soon as possible.''

Grenlund said it would likely be early next year when a firm is chosen. She referred questions about project specifics to the Corrections Department. Telephone and email messages seeking comment were left for a prison system spokesperson.

The announcement describes two 1,500-bed single-cell prisons, one for women and one for men, in facilities housing inmates posing minimum-, medium- and maximum-security risks.

''They will focus on providing therapeutic spaces with programming, medical (and) mental health, dietary, and recreational services that better support the rehabilitation and reintegration of individuals into their communities,'' the notice said.

Answering a court order that found Stateville uninhabitable and inaccessible, Corrections officials have all but emptied the prison, which opened in 1925, over objections from employees. They argued it should stay open while a new facility is built and opened next door not only to save them from having to travel greater distances to work in other prisons but to avoid disruption to inmates who were participating in educational and social service programs.

The employees' union, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, reached an agreement with the Corrections Department that allows a large number of Stateville employees to continue working at prison facilities that remain open on the Stateville campus, union spokesperson Anders Lindall said.

Corrections officials said during legislative hearings last summer that they were considering moving the Logan prison from Lincoln in central Illinois to the Stateville campus in Crest Hill, 40 miles (64 kilometers) southwest of Chicago, because up to 40% of women housed there are from the Chicago area. That proposal met with howls of protest from Lincoln-area officials and residents and prison employees, represented by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31.

Skeptical lawmakers have also questioned the proposed 1,500-bed capacity of each new prison. Prison populations statewide have declined dramatically in recent years. Stateville has a listed operational capacity of just over 3,000 inmates and in June had a population of 568. Logan's capacity is listed at about 1,400 and in June had just over 1,000.