Illinois has inaugurated its 103rd General Assembly, with a host of new legislators.
They will join dozens of others who’ve served before, all of whom will grapple with the issues that face our state. One of the biggest issues Illinois — and frankly, the entire United States — is grappling with is the need for public safety. For decades, mass incarceration has been society’s defense in response to any concerns about crime.
But despite writing and passing laws that affect the thousands of people incarcerated in Illinois, very few legislators ever visit a prison and experience for themselves what conditions are like inside.
Last month, I had the opportunity to visit Logan Correctional Center, a prison for female offenders just 30 miles northeast of Springfield.
During my visit, I couldn’t help but wonder what our legislators just 30 miles away would think if they saw the conditions of this 45-year-old facility. How would they feel if their loved ones were subjected to some of the experiences the women of Logan shared with me?
I thought I was no stranger to prisons. My husband, Jeffery, spent almost 12 years in prison, and I visited him countless times.
I thought I had an idea of what to expect from my experiences in a visiting room — I couldn’t even begin to tell you the number of visits I’ve had with my husband and my brother, who has also been incarcerated. But the visiting room of a prison is not the picture you get when you go from unit to unit inside the facility.
When I saw the facilities at Logan, in this 45-year-old building, I could only think about my loved ones living like this day in and day out for decades.
That crushed me.
My husband dealt with similar conditions day in and day out but always came to the visitation room with a million-dollar smile. He never complained to me about it. People in prison have to have mental fortitude to deal with the conditions inside and put on a face for their loved ones like those problems don’t exist.
Our legislators can’t possibly know this reality. They can’t have seen places like this and not thought that the people inside deserve a second chance, an opportunity to get out of these conditions and rejoin society.
When I talked to the women at Logan about what they needed to improve their lives, they asked for things as simple as hooks to hang their clothes on so they don’t sit on a wet floor when they shower. I wouldn’t even want to undress in that shower, let alone use it. The showers were disgusting.
Prisons should be designed for rehabilitating people, not warehousing them. There is a need for change, a need for alternative solutions. But our legislators can’t even begin to think about this if they’ve never seen it for themselves or spoken with people living inside these facilities.
More than 27,000 people are incarcerated in our state. They are constituents, too. Legislators who take the time to visit prisons will become effective lawmakers because they govern from a place of empiricism.
Effective policies transcend rationalism. They are derived from evidence-based research, objectivity and empiricism.
Effective policies are the result of lawmakers understanding there has to be a humane component in policy.
How can anyone write laws without knowing the people and places they affect? I encourage all Illinois lawmakers to take the time to visit a prison this year. You can’t know if you don’t go.
