The long and unending battle for mental health care in Illinois prisons The first report by a court-appointed monitor of mental health care inside Illinois prisons was authored in 2011 by Fred Cohen, a national expert on corrections. Today, the 180-page report remains sealed, according to the terms of an agreement between the state and
In June 2020, the Illinois Auditor General released its report on mental health care in Illinois prisons. The report followed a permanent injunction issued in federal court finding that the Illinois Department of Corrections was "not in substantial compliance" with a settlement agreement both sides agreed to in December 2015. The auditor general notes that
Dr. Pablo Stewart, an expert in mental health care in prisons and the appointed monitor in the Rasho lawsuit, discusses 15 areas where he found deficiencies in the care delivered to Illinois inmates. In the attached summary, Stewart explains failures in medication and psychiatric care, staff shortages, use of force and inpatient care, among many others.
This is the second of a five-part series on mental health care in Illinois prisons. Chicago attorney Harold Hirshman has spent decades as part of the legal team representing Illinois inmates in the lawsuit first filed by inmate Ashoor Rasho over mental health conditions in state institutions. Hirshman has released over 150 pages of documents
Mental health care in Illinois prisons has been debated, investigated and litigated for decades, with little consequence for the more than 12,000 detainees who need counseling, medication and other therapy. For almost two decades, Chicago attorney Harold Hirshman has been on the frontlines of the fight to create a mental health care system for Illinois
A Conversation with Alan Beaman and his attorney After 29 years, it’s time to talk For nearly three decades, Alan Beaman’s comments on the wrongful conviction that sent him to prison for 13 years have been restrained and carefully crafted. On October 22, Beaman and his lawyer Jeffrey Urdangen will come to Illinois State University’s
I enjoyed my time this morning with the audience at Living Well United in LeRoy. I shared some highlights from my time as a crime and legal affairs reporter at The Pantagraph and WGLT. It’s amazing how many of the court cases I have covered that people still recall and want to talk about. Our
The Uptown People’s Law Center is looking for a new leader. Those are some big shoes to fill. Alan Mills will retire as executive director when a successor is named, the firm announced this week. Mills came to the UPLC is 1979 as a law school intern and named executive director in 1979 after the
Barton McNeil was saddened in 2011 to hear of the death of Linda Tyda, a Chicago-area woman found in a shallow grave two hours north of Bloomington, Illinois, the place she was strangled and stored in a plastic tub by her daughter-in-law, Misook Nowlin, before her burial. McNeil was also not surprised to hear that
John Hanlon, Kristine Bunch, Steven Beckett and Patrick Pursley Kristine Bunch and Patrick Pursley share a common bond, forged by decades in prison for crimes they did not commit, and their eventual exonerations that allowed them to share their stories this week with an audience at Heartland Community College. “Justice Denied” was moderated by John
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