Illinois should not be spending $900 million to rebuild prisons.
Jimmy Soto, No New Prisons Press Conference, April 15, 2026
In 2024, Governor Pritzker allocated $900 million of Illinois residents' tax dollars to rebuild two prisons, intending to replace Stateville and Logan with new facilities.
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We urge the governor and Illinois legislators to reject the $900 million budget proposal to rebuild state prisons.
​Instead, we call for the funds to be redirected towards life-affirming resources and projects that heal, feed, and restore communities, instead of separating individuals from their homes.​
Our Goals
Stop the Rebuilds: We will stop the construction of new prisons in Illinois. We stand against the construction of any new carceral facilities, including but not limited to prison, jail, juvenile detention facility, or immigration detention facility.
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Close Logan: We will work intentionally to close Logan Correctional Center in a way that reduces harm during the closure and transfer process.
Decarceration: The alternative to construction is decarceration. We will work with our campaign partners and in coalition to towards dramatically reducing Illinois’ state prison population through advocacy to stop people from entering prisons, secure the humane release of people serving prison sentences, and provide non-carceral support for people released from prison.
Support for all people who remain incarcerated.
Divest/Invest: We will work towards investing economic resources and land into and directed by directly-impacted communities.
Close Logan C.C.
Logan C.C. Press Conference, December 9, 2025
The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) has proven time and again that it cannot be trusted to provide for the basic care of people in its custody. Some examples include:
1. Ongoing Sexual Abuse: Sexual assault and coercion of people incarcerated at Logan Prison by correctional officers has reached a tipping point. In September 2025, Uptown People's Law Center (UPLC), Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation (CAASE), and five private law firms filed lawsuits on behalf of seven women at Logan Prison "exposing an ongoing crisis of sexual assault, harassment, and institutional retaliation" (UPLC). A recent Department of Justice report highlighted Logan Prison as one of nine prisons nationwide identified as high-rate facilities based on sexual victimization of incarcerated people by staff.
2. Inhumane Medical Care: Despite being under a consent decree to improve health care since 2019, IDOC's long history of medical abuse and negligence persists. Across IDOC prisons, people regularly are denied access to approved prescription medications for health issues like Lupus, glaucoma, and hypertension. IDOC's chronic understaffing of physician and nursing positions results in long delays and the outright inability to access healthcare and any form of end of life care for its increasingly aging population. This neglect causes new health concerns, exacerbates existing conditions, and even results in preventable deaths.
3. Deferred Maintenance: IDOC has a deferred maintenance and accessibility backlog of nearly $2.9 billion, the highest of any state agency. All 32 maintenance projects on existing IDOC prisons were "reappropriated" (meaning rolled over) from last year to this year because they were left unfinished. IDOC is not taking care of critical infrastructure issues that impede the health and well-being of currently incarcerated people. If IDOC can’t even spend the money they have to maintain existing buildings, there’s no case for new construction.
During a time of deepening fiscal uncertainty for Illinois, it is unconscionable to reward IDOC, an agency riddled with inefficiency, incompetence, and inhumanity, with nearly $1 billion for an ill-defined plan that does not even identify the location of the new Logan Prison. Since March 2024, when RISE IDOC was introduced, IDOC has provided nearly no new information about the rebuilds.
YES - these prisons should close.
For years, incarcerated people have documented and raised concerns about the hazardous conditions at Stateville and Logan prisons - including toxic mold, unsafe drinking water, insufficient temperature controls, environmental health hazards, noncompliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, and crumbling buildings - that kill people.
NO - Stateville and Logan prisons should NOT be rebuilt.
Investing a minimum of $900 million to build two new prisons the state does not need is fiscally irresponsible, will not increase public safety, and is harmful to Illinois communities. Gov. Pritzker and IDOC’s plan is an investment in incarceration, not rehabilitation. Actual investment in trauma-informed and gender-responsive supports requires looking beyond the prison and investing in communities.
Contact Us
Instagram: @nonewprisons.il