A transgender inmate convicted of “violent crimes” has reached an undisclosed settlement with the Illinois Department of Corrections in a lawsuit alleging she should have been transferred to a female prison.
District Judge Nancy Rosenstengel entered an order last month stating that the action is settled in its entirety. The parties requested additional time to finalize settlement documents, so she ordered the case to be dismissed with prejudice in 120 days.
The parties first engaged in a settlement conference on Nov. 18 via zoom before Magistrate Judge Mark Beatty. Plaintiff Tay Tay appeared with attorneys Sheila Bedi and Vanessa Del Valle. Attorneys Carla Tolbert and Melissa Jennings appeared on behalf of the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). The case did not settle at that time and a second settlement conference was ordered.
Dan Hinkel
Chicago Tribune
A strong winter storm began making its way across the Upper Midwest Tuesday, creating treacherous travel conditions and spurring warnings urging people to stay off the roads. The National Weather Service issued winter storm warnings for parts of Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, South Dakota, Wisconsin and Illinois.
For decades, Nancy Rishâs attorneys have unsuccessfully tried to wipe away her life sentence for aiding in the murder of a Kankakee businessman who suffocated after being buried alive.
Now her latest bid for freedom turns in part on the words of the very public official whoâs trying to keep her locked up for helping to kill Stephen Small in 1987.
Andrew Freund transferred to Stateville Correctional Center Andrew Freund Sr.
Updated 12/22/2020 6:33 PM
The Crystal Lake man convicted in the death of his 5-year-old son AJ Freund has been moved from McHenry County jail to a state prison.
Andrew Freund Sr. remained Monday at the Illinois Department of Corrections Northern Reception Center, housed at Stateville Correctional Center, according to the IDOC website.
The 62-year-old former lawyer arrived at the Crest Hill prison on Dec. 1. Typically, inmates who are booked and processed at the Northern Reception Center remain there until they are transferred to the prison where they will complete their sentence, according to the IDOC website.
The staff at Lincoln’s Logan Correctional Center felt down last week when they learned Gov. JB Pritzker was imposing a state government hiring freeze and looking into potential furloughs of state workers and other “personnel cost adjustments.”
“The reaction is there is underappreciation for what our staff is subjected to,” said Shaun Dawson, a correctional sergeant at the women’s prison and president of the prison’s 700-member American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 2073.
The governor said in a news conference Dec. 15 that he would institute $711 million in cuts to the current fiscal 2021 budget, including a potential $75 million in worker furloughs and other personnel cost adjustments that would need to be negotiated with unions.