08/01/2020
On Wednesday, July 29th, 2020 Sheriff Jon Sandage announced the first confirmed case of coronavirus inside the McLean County Jail. The inmate in question has already been convicted & sentenced and is awaiting transfer to the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). However, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, Illinois Governor Pritzker issued Executive Order 2020-13 on March 26th which suspended all new admissions to IDOC facilities. He later issued another executive order releasing over 10,000 inmates from IDOC facilities after COVID-19 spread like wildfire through IDOC facilities.
Since these orders, local jails have been slowly filling up with inmates that in normal times would not be their responsibility. Sandage said of the orders, they “create a health and financial burden on the McLean County Detention Facility and the taxpayers of McLean County.”
The Illinois Sheriff’s Association (ISA) became so frustrated they sued Pritzker in state court to force IDOC to accept inmates. The lawsuit is pending. ISA released the following statement, “We should be in this together, but nothing could be further from the truth. The [Pritzker] administration is forcing local sheriffs and their taxpayers to bear the entire burden for the state’s Department of Corrections abdicating their responsibility under the guise of the pandemic. This cat-and-mouse game must stop, we need real coordination and a realistic plan.”
Sandage blamed the coronavirus case on Pritzker as well. But why? It’s not like Pritzker is sneaking into the McLean County Jail and coughing on people. The inmate who tested positive has been in the jail for months. Sandage claims that all new entries to the jail are quarantined for 14 days before being released into the population. So, the only way this inmate could have contracted the disease is from jail staff.
In fact, the only reason this case was even discovered was because of Pritzker’s most recent Executive Order regarding IDOC entries. In response to the lawsuit filed by ISA, Pritzker released a new set of guidelines:
In determining the timing of the arrival of individuals from county jails and the specific process for transfers to IDOC, the Director shall take into account several health and safety factors including (a) the capacity and safety of IDOC reception centers, and (b) whether the individuals to be transferred have been quarantined for 14 days and, following that quarantine period, have tested negative for COVID-19 before their transfer to IDOC.
Executive Order 2020-50
This means Sandage wasn’t testing inmates and staff before the new guidelines were released, and only did so because it was required by the Governor. Sandage seems to follow the Trump ideology of testing, where infection cases magically don’t exist if you don’t test. Sandage is a typical conservative who talks a lot about responsibility while failing to take any himself, preferring to point the finger at others. Whether Sandage was too lazy or simply too incompetent to properly test is still unknown. And, because of this irresponsible action, there’s possible outbreak spreading through the jail.
We know this is not the only case in the jail. As stated above, the inmate did not contract the disease alone in their cell, nor did the Governor infect any of these inmates. The fact most jail staff (including Sandage himself) don’t actually wear masks and take proper precautions show the callous environment of the jail. Studies show that once COVID-19 enters an incarceration environment, prisoners are 550% more likely to get Covid-19, and 300% more likely to die. When outbreaks occur in corrections institutes, infection rates frequently exceed 65%.1
The McLean County Board bears some responsibility as well. The Republican majority on the Justice Committee never holds Sandage accountable, preferring to defer to his alleged expertise in incarcerating and profiting off of black, brown, and poor people. Even the two Democrats on the committee (District 6 George Gordon & District 8 Carlos Rubostelli) can’t be bothered to even ask simple questions about the jail. Since the pandemic began, not a single person on the Justice Committee has asked any questions regarding PPE supplies, compliance of staff in wearing PPE, hygiene availability for inmates, etc. In fact, they almost never ask any questions at all.
There’s plenty of reasons not to defer to Sandage’s alleged expertise. Sandage frequently prevaricates when asked even the simplest of questions. Back in April, Sandage was asked why free communication services (which had previously been offered to inmates if their loved one came to the jail) could not be offered remotely. As has been stated before, the jail is contracted with IC Solutions to offer tele-communications to inmates, and the services can be performed remotely from the comfort of one’s home. Sandage claimed offering free services to those calling from home would be too complicated involving hardware issues that are beyond the scope of his knowledge. Like the president Sandage fetishizes, these statements are FAKE NEWS! E-mails between IC Solutions & the jail show that not only was IC Solutions willing to offer free remote visitation for inmates during the pandemic, but jail staff went out of their way to prevent them from doing so.2
Many activists in the community have been warning about this since the pandemic began. Black Lives Matter BloNo has consistently organized around decarcerating the jail and ending for-profit methods of incarceration since March. BLM BloNo is organizing a protest in solidarity with inmates outside the jail on Monday, August 3rd, at 6 PM. They are also recommending that McLean County residents contact the County Board to demand action & accountability.
