With COVID-19 raging throughout the United States, there is a growing sense of desperation among people in prison. Pablo Mendoza, who recently got out of prison, said that those inside “are tired of the lockdown.” They spend 23.5 hours a day in their cells. They have not had visits from their loved ones for almost a year.
Those who have caught COVID and are believed to be immune get out for yard time. Others are “weighing options,” according to Mendoza: “Stay safe, or get the virus so they can get some open air. They are willing to risk it; this is the mood right now.”
Corrections officers in Illinois prisons and jails are among the millions of essential workers eligible for the COVID-19 vaccine in the next round of inoculations, and so are the inmates they guard. Detainees group housing puts them at risk for COVID-19, but some say they should move down in the lineup.
More than two years is a long time to wait for authorities to decide whether to charge a former Springfield man in the alleged strangulation death of a prison cellmate, the attorney for the dead man’s family says.
Chicago lawyer David Lipschultz said he hasn’t received answers from Rob Jeffreys, acting director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, or David Searby Jr., state’s attorney for Perry County.
Lipschultz, who represents the family of Earl Little, formerly of Rushville and Quincy, sent a letter Nov. 18 to Jeffreys and Searby asking why former Springfield resident Daniel Mueller, 33, hasn’t been charged with any crimes in connection with Little’s death.
More than two years is a long time to wait for authorities to decide whether to charge a former Springfield man in the alleged strangulation death of a prison cellmate, the attorney for the dead man’s family says.
Chicago lawyer David Lipschultz said he hasn’t received answers from Rob Jeffreys, acting director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, or David Searby Jr., state’s attorney for Perry County.
Lipschultz, who represents the family of Earl Little, formerly of Rushville and Quincy, sent a letter Nov. 18 to Jeffreys and Searby asking why former Springfield resident Daniel Mueller, 33, hasn’t been charged with any crimes in connection with Little’s death.