Illinois seeks two Crest Hill prisons, leaving Lincoln out of Logan Correctional Center rebuild plan

(Capitol News Illinois) – The Illinois Department of Corrections is officially planning to rebuild both Logan and Stateville correctional centers in Crest Hill, dashing locals’ hopes that the state would rebuild Logan at its current Lincoln location.

The Friday, June 5, announcement comes two years after Gov. JB Pritzker and IDOC originally announced the state would rebuild the Logan and Stateville Correctional Centers.

Early on, it became apparent the state would likely rebuild both in Chicago’s far southwest suburb of Crest Hill, where Stateville is already located. Locals protested — but a construction advising team hired by the state determined the Logan women’s facility should be rebuilt in Crest Hill in tandem with the Stateville men’s facility due to financial and operational needs.

The announcement drew criticism from local and state Republican leaders who say the choice to move Logan instead of rehabbing the facility could cause further economic harm to the city of Lincoln and Logan County, after the closure of two private colleges in the area.

IDOC said it will provide transfer opportunities for Logan employees — but current employees and union representatives say packing up and moving presents a hardship for families.

Site criteria

The decision to rebuild Logan and Stateville came after both facilities presented “critical infrastructure needs,” according to the administration. Stateville was built in 1925 and Logan includes buildings dating back to the 1930s.

The firm hired by the state to manage and advise the construction process examined the potential locations in Lincoln and Crest Hill. It also conducted a needs assessment for the soon-to-be-built facilities and visited other correctional facilities across the country.

“Examination of the current Logan Correctional Center site and alternative sites in Lincoln demonstrated that these options did not exhibit the physical space or site conditions required to accommodate the new women’s facility within the established acreage, security, and operational parameters,” IDOC said in a Friday statement.

Building both facilities in Crest Hill also allows for shorter project duration and shared infrastructure such as a central utility plant, warehouse, entry drive and parking lot, healthcare and educational and re-entry resources, which will minimize costs.

Months after the state’s original announcement to rehab the facilities, Logan County residents filled a series of hearings to protest the state’s apparent plan to build both facilities in Crest Hill. And shortly after IDOC’s announcement Friday, state Sen. Sally Turner, R-Beason, and Rep. Bill Hauter, R-Morton, released a joint statement with Logan County Board Chair James Glenn and Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch criticizing the decision.

“Illinois should be investing in much needed repairs and upgrades to Logan, so that it can best serve its role to rehabilitate people to become productive members of society,” the statement said. “Moving the facility will do nothing to improve outcomes for those who are incarcerated there, it will absolutely devastate our local communities, and it will force staff to choose between uprooting their families from their homes or going on unemployment.”

IDOC said it plans to keep Logan open as long as possible to avoid disruption and is evaluating future use of the property. It’s unclear when construction will begin as the state begins soliciting design proposals, although IDOC estimates it will take five years to complete construction.

New facilities

IDOC is working with the Illinois Capital Development Board to construct the two multi-level security facilities, which will include “rehabilitative and gender-responsive spaces with housing, education, programming, medical and mental health, dietary, and recreational areas to support the successful re-entry of individuals into their communities.”

The women’s facility will have a capacity of 800, and the men’s facility will have a capacity of 1,500, with infrastructure in the men’s facility to allow for up to 450 additional beds. Later this summer, the Capital Development Board plans to open proposals for the design and construction of these facilities.

The budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which ends June 30, included $900 million in new funds to build a new men’s facility and a new women’s facility. Both Logan and Crest Hill received over $1 million for capital improvements in the 2027 budget beginning July 1.

(Reporting by Jenna Schweikert and UIS Public Affairs Reporting (PAR), Capitol News Illinois)

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service that distributes state government coverage to hundreds of news outlets statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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