Representatives for prison workers and people incarcerated at Illinois’ Joliet Treatment Center described poor mental healthcare and unsafe conditions during a hearing held by state lawmakers Tuesday.
Legislators called the hearing in response to an investigation by The Marshall Project, WBEZ and the Chicago Sun-Times that revealed 70 fires at the Joliet Treatment Center in recent years. The prison was designed to provide intensive mental health treatment, but men there said they were so despondent over conditions that they set their cells — or themselves — on fire. The consequences were often tragic: One man needed a skin graft, another lost a leg, and two died.
The joint hearing of the state House of Representatives’ Mental Health and Addiction and Restorative Justice and Public Safety committees was called by Democratic state Reps. Lindsey LaPointe and Kelly Cassidy, both of Chicago. Cassidy said she had long been frustrated with poor prison conditions in the state…