Another Justice Committee meeting and another vacuous episode of mostly geriatric County Board Members of a Caucasian persuasion salivating over Sheriff Sandage’s authority as their lips firmly smooched his posterior. The sheriff dressed in his fanciest suit as he wasn’t held accountable, looked particularly pleased at the felatiated adorations of District 3 Board member George Wendt surrounding him moistly.
As of Tuesday, three inmates have tested positive for coronavirus, and two staff members. Of the inmates that tested positive, one is convicted & sentenced, one is convicted and awaiting sentencing, and the last is pre-trial. Sheriff Sandage claims they have mild symptoms. The jail population sits around 225. 55.3% of inmates are Black, 4% Latinx, and 39.8% are people of no color. 90% of inmates are pre-trial (meaning they haven’t been convicted of any crime), and 27.9% are awaiting trial for drug crimes. At least one inmate is pregnant.
On Monday, the Sheriff was present at the McLean County Health Committee meeting to report on the coronavirus cases. All inmates have returned to 23-hour a day lockdown. The sheriff says all inmates that test negative will be re-tested every five days until the jail is COVID free. All new arrivals to the jail have been kept in quarantine for 14 days. When District 7 Board member Sharon Chung asked the Sheriff about multiple reports of jail staff not wearing proper PPE, the Sheriff said, “I’d be curious to hear who said that because we are very diligent [about wearing PPE]. There’s a lot of misinformation out there right now about what’s going on in the facility. All of our staff has done an excellent job with their PPE and limiting exposure.”
I’ve personally seen jail staff inside the jail not wearing masks, including Sheriff Sandage. Plus, all these pictures.
District 8 Board Member Carlo Rubostelli finally asked a useful question for once in his career about the jail’s supply of PPE. Sheriff Sandage said they are doing fine on supply, though it is about three times the normal cost. The jail reported inmates are provided masks, but none of the county board members could be bothered to ask further details about the frequency masks are given to inmates (sources say inmates are given one mask that is not replaced until it breaks).
The Justice Committee began with a thirty minutes of public comment, all lambasting the Sheriff and County Board for their negligence regarding the jail. There were more comments than time available for public comment. But, it seems the many questions and concerns did little to motivate any county board member to ask important questions. Chairman George Gordon of District 6, who I’ve personally spoke with and has expressed concern privately about various jail issues, failed to ask any questions whatsoever preferring to do his best impersonation of a corpse1.
District 2 member Jim Soeldner asked questions about the Sheriff’s battle with the Governor regarding post-trial inmates and the state corrections facility. As I’ve written before, there has been an ongoing struggle between Governor Pritzker and the Illinois Sheriff’s Association regarding post-trial inmates who have been sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). Since the pandemic began, Pritzker has halted transfers because of the multiple COVID-19 outbreaks that have occurred in IDOC facilities. On Monday, a state judge ruled against Governor Pritzker saying IDOC must begin receiving new inmates.
The ISA does have a legitimate gripe here. These inmates are not the local counties problem and continuing to house these inmates puts a financial strain on local budgets. Reports from ISA say the state has offered no compensation for holding on to these inmates, which is a problem. The state should reimburse counties for inmates that are the state’s responsibility. But, transferring inmates to IDOC facilities while the pandemic rages on is horribly irresponsible and will likely cause a greater spread of the disease.
Unfortunately, Sheriff Sandage has no problem being irresponsible (as already evidenced), and after the ISA court victory, loaded up 36 inmates into transport vehicles at 5 AM to send them up to Stateville Correctional Facility. The inmate who originally tested positive for COVID-19 (who had been convicted & sentenced) was not on the caravan. No word on whether any of the inmates sent had gotten negative test results, because none of the board members could be bothered to inquire. When the inmate caravan reached Stateville, the prison only excepted three of the inmates saying they were already at max capacity because of the pandemic. 33 inmates were returned to the McLean County Jail. So, Sheriff Sandage wasted tax payer dollars to send this caravan up just because he could, instead of following the guidelines the governor put in place. Let’s be clear, Pritzker isn’t placing these restrictions on new prison inmates out of spite; he’s doing it to prevent the spread of a highly infectious and deadly disease.
Rubostelli asked again about free remote visitations after I exposed the Sheriff’s lies earlier this year. The sheriff said contrary to misinformation, free in-person video visitation was renewed on June 1st. In other words, if people want to talk to inmates without being charged exorbitant fees, they have to risk their health going to the jail, a known COVID-19 hotspot. Rubostelli, in his typical useless fashion, did not ask why the Sheriff prevented IC Solutions from offering free remote visitation which the company had offered. The sheriff prefers inappropriate pandemic behavior to common decency.
Meanwhile, these are the images from the jail.
