Illinois prisons

Drug-soaked paper is making its way into Illinois prisons, causing overdoses and staff safety concerns. But banning it could pose legal issues.

Hundreds of Menard Correctional Center employees and their supporters staged a rally alongside a busy street in Chester, highlighting what they described as perilous working conditions at the state’s largest maximum-security prison.

The Illinois House also passed measures providing climate change-related professional development for teachers if funding is allocated; expanding pregnancy-related care, as well as adding transparency and reporting measures to prisoner medical release hearings.

Weeks after two high-profile resignations at the Illinois Prisoner Review Board, Gov. JB Pritzker on Monday appointed the first-ever executive director to help lead the beleaguered agency.

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker defended the number of dying and disabled prisoners released under a landmark law that went into effect early last year at a news conference last week.

Illinois lawmakers said hundreds would be released thanks to the Joe Coleman Medical Release Act. But so far, just 52 of them have gotten out.

A simple case of nepotism showcased a much more pervasive problem of preferential hiring practices and a startling lack of hiring policy within the division of the Department of Corrections tasked with keeping prisons safe and investigating alleged misconduct within the agency.

An independent expert who has monitored the mental health care was terminated reducing the transparency around an often failing system.

The Illinois Prisoner Review Board granted parole to Paula Sims after three hours of testimony and discussion. Sims was convicted of first-degree murder in 1990.

The bureau will include the number of incarcerated people in reapportionment data going to cities, counties and states next month.