On Friday, June 5, the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) officially announced its plans to rebuild both The Logan and Stateville Correctional Centers in Crest Hill, Illinois. The Logan Correctional Center, built in the 1930s, currently is located just outside Lincoln, Illinois.
Back in May 2024, IDOC floated the controversial idea of rebuilding the Logan Correctional Center at the site of the current Stateville facility, instead of making much-needed repairs to the existing facility, but they claimed no official decision had been made.
The closure announcement for both facilities triggered a statutorily required hearing process through the bicameral, bipartisan Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA). Residents and legislators criticized the announcement, and the hearings were packed with hundreds of potentially affected residents opposed to the plan. At the end of the COGFA closure process, commission members who were present heavily criticized the agency’s process.
Senate Republicans argued that Logan Correctional Center should receive the necessary repairs and upgrades that it needs after years of neglect by the administration, instead of moving it to northern Illinois. If it has to be rebuilt, it should be done in Logan County where the facility has been located for nearly a hundred years. They noted that the move would not only be disruptive and harmful to IDOC staff and residents of the facility, the move would also bring significant damage to the local economy, which has already been hit in recent years by other major closures.
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