DeKalb Times

An Illinois Northern District Judge held the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) in contempt for not complying with the court’s order to improve the quality of health care for inmates.

“It’s shameful that IDOC can’t even produce a court-ordered plan to address the medical care needs of people in their care,” Sen. Brian Stewart (R-Freeport) wrote in a newsletter on Monday.

Reason magazine reported that IDOC didn’t meet the court’s order asking the agency to follow advice from health experts. Reason added the agency was slow to make cancer diagnoses, it provided inadequate dental care, and provided “poor treatment of dementia patients.”

The ACLU reported an evaluation of prisons, found individuals with bed sores “because the staff did not turn them in bed,” staff leaving wheelchair-bound inmates sitting in their waste, and staff neglecting to regularly feed inmates.

The IDOC contempt order was issued on Aug. 5. 

Judge Jorge L. Alonso ordered IDOC to explain how it will fulfill the consent decree and to submit that information by Sept. 9. Further deadlines and court appearances could be ordered.

The ACLU noted that IDOC agreed to make changes to give prisoners better access to healthcare after reaching a 2016 settlement.

“IDOC clearly wants to continue their misconduct with impunity, hidden behind prison walls," Alan Mills, executive director of Uptown People's Law Center, said in a press release, Reason reported. “Their complete disregard for the health and safety of people in prison should disgust every taxpayer in Illinois. If this was a private nursing home, the way these elders have been treated would trigger a state investigation, and the home would immediately be shut down.”

A report by the Chicago Tribune on Aug. 10 revealed that elderly prisoners with dementia appeared “neglected” and “abused.” In some cases, they were not hydrated or assisted with eating by medical staff, according to the Tribune's report.

WCIA reported Gov. J.B. Pritzker said addressing the lack of health care is a collaborative effort, not exclusive to IDOC.   

“Republicans haven’t voted for any of the funding that’s necessary for us to be able to improve the providing of health care within our prison system,” Pritzker said to WCIA. “So they really don’t have a leg to stand on.”

According to Center Square, the case goes back to 2010, when inmates sued over poor healthcare and prisoners being in unnecessary pain. By 2019, IDOC had not made a comprehensive plan to improve healthcare services. And now, a federal court says three years later, the plan hasn't appeared. A court-appointed monitor reported that IDOC had not provided 80% of the information requested.