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By JOHN F. BOYLE
GAYLE FRANZEN is worried. As director of the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC), he is aware that overcrowding was an important (if not the chief) cause of the 1978 riot at Pontiac prison where three guards lost their lives. He has cited overcrowding as an indirect cause of the September uprising at Stateville prison. Right now, prison population is very close to capacity, and the population at the state's prisons is currently increasing by 14.3 inmates per week, according to DOC estimates. The maximum capacity of the prison system, as of December 31, 1979, was 11,395, and the population then was 11,211. But can the 2,100 beds in new prison facilities now under construction accommodate the projected prison population? In the short run, there should be enough beds. By the summer of 1982, with all new facilities open, there will be 13,495 beds and an estimated prison population of 12,783. But by the summer of 1983, if trends continue, there will be an estimated 13,526 prison population, which is just over capacity. The December decision by the Illinois Supreme Court on the applicability of the new "good time" provision under Class X legislation resulted in the early release of about 400 prisoners. The early release of those prisoners should give the overloaded prison system a crucial six-month breather. But Franzen clearly has cause for concern as he tries to increase capacity to keep ahead of increasing prison population. Franzen knew when he accepted the job in February of 1979 that it would not be easy. He was extremely critical of the department's past operations and announced that his top priority would be to solve the overcrowding and understaffing at Illinois' four maximum-security prisons. During the Thompson administration, the General Assembly approved legislation to build two new medium-security prisons. Each has a capacity of 750 persons and are scheduled to open this year in Centralia and Hillsboro. The General Assembly also appropriated the funds to convert the mental health facility at East Moline into a minimum-security institution with 200 beds. It is scheduled to be opened in 1981. The most innovative approach to increasing the capacity in the prison system is the work camp. Three camps are scheduled to be open by June 30 with a 18/May 1980/Illinois Issues total capacity of 150 prisoners. The work camp idea is this: low-security offenders who have committed nonserious crimes and are near the end of their sentences would do menial labor on roads in sparsely populated areas. This work would save tax dollars and free up prison space. Those assigned to work camps would live in low-cost, temporary facilities near work areas. The General Assembly has already passed work camp legislation which allows such activities; but Laurel Rans, DOC deputy director for policy development, would like approval for prisoners to work in recreation areas. "I don't think the workers should be restricted to roadwork and other Department of Transportation projects," Rans said. "We have lots of parks and forest preserves that need trailwork done each year during early spring and late fall. We could beautify our public lands and at the same time take these men away from maximum-security prisons — where they don't belong." Problem of mix Franzen is aware of the fact that too many nonserious offenders are placed in maximum-security prisons, but he's been hard-put to do anything about it. "Three-fourths of all space in the state prison system is in maximum-security prisons," he said, "so we consequently have a problem involving segregation of prisoners according to their offense. We have people convicted of driving while intoxicated who are in maximum-security facilities. At this time there is simply nowhere else to put them." Franzen and Rans would like to see nonserious offenders sent to work camps. "Maybe people won't holler about their tax dollars when they see something like work camps," he said. One of the principal advantages of work camps is that housing facilities for them can be set up in much less time than it takes to build a prison, More minimum-security work camps could be ready by next summer if the General Assembly grants the approprations. DOC is requesting funds to open more work camps if needed so the system could have a total of seven or eight work camps operating by June of 1981. Each would house 50 persons, thus putting the total capacity for the work camps at 350-400 beds. The 700 new beds from Centralia and Hillsboro, the 200 new beds at East Moline, plus 400 from the work camps, would give the system 2,100 new beds by June 1982. When these 2,100 new beds become available, the present shortage will be met. Meanwhile, the question remains: What will happen when the system's burgeoning population outgrows its increased total capacity? The state is not presently planning any other new correctional facilities, and even if it were, such facilities might not be completed in time to handle projected increases. It takes three to five years to build a medium or maximum-security prison, about two years for a minimum-security prison, and almost a year to convert a mental health facility like Logan. The department has considered a variety of alternatives to deal with overcrowding, but none of them will eliminate the crunch that is due to occur in the mid-1980's. One proposal would reduce the rate of admission to state prisons. The drawback here, of course, is that the department has no control over admissions. Franzen gives four reasons for the growing prison population: improved law enforcement, speedier handling of cases by the courts, stiffer penalties for offenses, and high unemployment. As long as Illinois continues to use the same criteria for sentencing offenders, the four factors Franzen cites will insure a steady or increasing flow of new inmates into the Illinois prison system. Another way to control overcrowding in the prisons is to reduce the length of stay; but again, Franzen's department has little input here. The recently implemented Class X offenses with determinate sentencing call for mandatory minimum sentences, usually between six and 30 years. Trends from Class X "We don't have any actual statistics yet to prove that class X has kept more people in our prisons," said Mike Mahoney, executive director of the Chicago-based John Howard Association, the state's foremost prison "watchdog" group. "But the Criminal Sentencing Commission is coming out with a report in three to six months that should show it has. Right now, all we can do is look at individual cases and talk to specific authorities, but all indications point to an increase caused by Class X." Another way of handling the expected overcrowding would be to jam more people into whatever available space is left. It is a solution that Franzen finds totally unacceptable. "Triple-celling is absolutely out," he said. Triple-celling would put three prisoners in a 5 by 8 1/2 foot cell. Illinois' prisons really can't take many more people under any circumstances, according to Rans. "We've overcrowded ourselves almost to the point where it would be impossible to bring more prisoners into our existing facilities," she said. "We like to talk about the rate of capacity of each institution, but that's really only a relative term; we've inflated our real rates of capacity again and again. "For example, an institution might have an ideal rated capacity of 600 persons. But we have to raise it higher and higher until we raise it to, say 1,000. We can get by with that many prisoners, but we're seriously overcrowded. And right now, we're approaching the end of our line. We've determined that the maximum possible rate of capacity for the entire system is about 11,395. That's really hitting tops." The department arrived at this figure after conducting an exhaustive examination of its current facilities. The study included an institution-by-institution cell count. "The count helped us get a sense not only of our number of
May 1980/Illinois Issues/19 cells," Rans said, "but also the number of people in each cell, our capacity of minimum, medium and maximum-security space, and a plan for each of our institutions." Plans for expansion The last, and best, alternative is to expand the number of beds in the system. But Franzen said he has no large-scale expansion plan; he said he is just trying to keep the atmosphere in the prisons "under control." Franzen has been stepping up his efforts to alert the public and the legislature to the severity of the problem. He knows the Illinois prison system will need new facilities in the long run. Right now he and Rans are counting on work camps to alleviate overcrowding. However, if more minimum-security prisons are to be built, planning must begin soon. Rans believes prison population will have increased by at least 1,800 by June of 1982 (which the system could handle), but Franzen is more pessimistic. He said the population may very well be 14,000 by 1982 — a 3,000-person increase (which the system could not handle). "We think our projection of population increases over the next two years are pretty accurate," Rans said, "but as we move toward 1982, we have less certainty. Given present trends, we know the prison population will continue to go up, but we're not sure by how much. It will probably be at least 15,000 by June of 1985, though. At some point, you have to stop talking about temporary solutions like work camps and start building new institutions. And we'd better start soon, for the medium and maximum-security prisons take a long time to build. So do minimum [security]." Besides attempting to draw public support for more and better facilities, Franzen has ordered the preparation of a major capital development study to examine the entire Illinois prison system. He hopes the study will show where funds can be best used. The immediate future for Illinois prisons, while not bright, is at least within acceptable limits where overcrowding and proper segregation are concerned. But, given improved law enforcement, speedy court handling, stiffer penalties, rising unemployment, and the currently unpredictable effect of Class X sentencing on sentence length, the exact prison requirements for the more distant future are hard to foretell. Given the 14.3 inmate per week current increase, by 1983, Illinois could be faced with full to overflowing prisons and no plans for more space on the boards. John F. Boyle is a senior in journalism at the University of Illinois, where he will enter the College of Law in the fall.
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