The Illinois Department of Corrections [IDOC] announced Friday it is officially closing the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln and will relocate the 800-bed facility to Crest Hill in Will County.
The move has been in the works for several years with state officials saying the all-women’s prison in Lincoln, built in the 1930s, was outdated and in disrepair.
In a news release from IDOC and the Illinois Capitol Development Board [ICDB], said the agencies’ construction manager performed an evaluation of Logan and alternative sites in Lincoln and determined they lacked the space and security needed for the women’s prison.
The state also is building a men’s facility with 1,500 beds at the Crest Hill site. IDOC moved the last incarcerated men out of the century-old Stateville Correctional Center last year.
“Building two Crest Hill facilities supports a significantly shortened project duration, stronger cost control, and a facility design that meets IDOC’s operational and rehabilitative objectives,” the agencies said in a statement. "The evaluation placed emphasis on sustainability, project timelines, and fiscal responsibility."
Elected officials in Logan County, who have pushed the state for several years to save Logan, issued a joint statement Friday calling the closure ill-advised.
“Let’s be clear, this is the wrong move for the correctional system, for the staff of the facility, for our communities, and for those who reside at Logan,” said state Sen. Sally Turner, R-Beason, state Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, Logan County Board Chair James Glenn, and Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch.
IDOC said the new prisons in Crest Hill will feature “rehabilitative and gender-responsive spaces” that will include services in housing, education, medical and mental health, dietary and recreational areas, with the goal to help the incarcerated find successful re-entry.
IDOC said it intends to keep the Logan Correctional Center open until the women are transferred to the new facility and noted it’s made several recent investments in the facility, including for modernizing its power source “to enhance safety and reliability.”
The agency did not offer a timeline for when the new corrections facilities will be built.
