There are currently 1,623 active cases among inmates and prisons staff – compared to the 703 last week and the 200 cases reported on Dec. 6, according to IDOC date.

 

Lindsey Hess, a spokesperson for IDOC, said that this type of spike typically reflects what is happening within the larger community.

 

“What we have found over the course of the pandemic is that the number of COVID-19 cases within IDOC is reflective of the situation in the community,” Hess said. “We are working closely with the Illinois Department of Public Health, infectious disease consultants, and correctional agencies across the nation to ensure best practices and keep individuals in custody healthy and safe.”

 

Alan Mills, executive director of the Uptown People’s Law Center, said that while that is true, prisons are one of the only places you can regulate people so intensely.

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“(The numbers) are just outrageous,” Mills said. “Prisons are not like the rest of the environment. The state has complete control over who comes in and out of the prison and whether or not they're vaccinated. You can’t do that with the general public because we go to all kinds of places all the time. Prisons are one of the places where you could protect people if you took the right steps. We just decided not to do it.”

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Correctional facilities have accounted for 18.6% of cases statewide since July 1, according to Illinois Department of Public Health data. The facilities were one of the highest sources of outbreaks next to daycares, factories and group homes. 

 

Mills attributed the Illinois prison spike to both the state of the surrounding community and the lack of prison personnel who are vaccinated.

 

“The prisons have not done what (it should) to protect prisoners and, frankly, staff as well,” Mills said. “The governor announced that there would be a mandate for all employees to be vaccinated back in August. They still are not. The mandate now has until the end of January.”

 

Gov. J.B Pritzker originally mandated vaccines for prison employees on Aug. 26, with an inoculation deadline of Oct. 4.

 

However, implementation was delayed by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees’ opposition.

 

Pritzker announced Dec. 30 that the arbitrator in the state’s vaccine mandate interest arbitration proceedings determined the state could — and should — require vaccinations for prison staff.

 

Employees subjected to this mandate are now required to get their first shot by January 31, 2022 unless they are approved for a religious or medical exemption, Pritzker said.

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Hess pushed back at Mill’s accusation that IDOC is not protecting its prisoners and staff.

 

“Protecting the health and safety of staff, individuals in custody and the community remains the Department’s top priority,” Hess said. “To help combat the challenge of infection control within our congregate living facilities, all staff and individuals in custody are temperature checked, masked, symptom screened and routinely tested. In addition, 75% of the incarcerated population and 66% of staff are vaccinated against COVID-19.”

 

Further protections include medical quarantines.

 

Facilities with confirmed cases of COVID-19 are placed on medical quarantine with restricted movement depending on the outbreak, Hess said.

 

IDOC’s medical and operations teams are also making facility-by-facility calls on visitor procedures, Hess said.

 

Local prisons like Shawnee and Centralia both have employee and inmate case numbers in the double digits despite precautions taken.

 

Shawnee has 19 current employee cases and 61 current inmate cases, while Centralia has 15 current employee cases and 22 current inmate cases, according to IDOC data.

 

Case counts are updated daily Monday through Friday at 5 p.m. on IDOC’s website, according to IDOC.