The Sentinel: 07/03/25

IDOC releases initial solitary confinement report under new law

“Sunlight is the best disinfectant” - first transparency report on solitary confinement in Illinois is just a start, say advocates. Mentally ill inmates in Illinois placed in solitary confinement nearly 500 times monthly, new state report shows.

CHICAGO — The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) released its first quarterly report this week on the use of solitary confinement, as required under a new state law aimed at increasing transparency around the controversial practice. But advocates say the initial data, covering April and May 2025, falls short of offering the clarity and accountability promised under Public Act 103-1074.

Signed into law in March 2025, Public Act 103-1074 mandates that IDOC produce quarterly and annual reports detailing how solitary confinement—referred to as “restrictive housing”—is used, including who is subjected to it, for how long, and why. The legislation was backed by a coalition of civil rights groups including the Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, Restore Justice, and Uptown People’s Law Center.

Criminal behind bars — Prison rights advocates argue that solitary confinement is not only ineffective but also harmful.

Guest Commentary |
What makes you happy?

All we have for certain, is today. Even today is iffy. Since today is all we really have then it’s best to not mess it up by constantly looking over our shoulders.

by Glenn Mollette, Guest Commentator

Glenn Mollette

Peace and happiness have many variables.

We aren’t happy when we feel we do not have enough and then burdened if we have too much. We fret over not enough money or worry about what we will do if we have too much money. Most of us don’t have the latter problem.

We fret over not enough space or how we care for too much space. We accumulate and store up in our barns and build bigger barns to store up more stuff. We then don’t know what we will do with all the stuff.

How much does it take to bring you peace and make you happy? Can you be happy in a one room dwelling place? Does it take a 25-room house to make you feel good? How many cars do you need to make you feel satisfied? Or, is satisfaction only a remotely impossible concept? Many years ago, one popular song lamented, “I can’t get no satisfaction.”

Satisfaction and happiness may be claimed for a season. Possibly you are satisfied with your vocation, athletic accomplishments, family life, parenting success, fulfillment of life goals and ambitions? Often, we are but then those seasons pass. Careers end, athletic contests become history, retirement comes with memories that fade further and further into the past.

Too often most of us can look back and wonder, “what if?” we may say. The problem with “what if?” is that it doesn’t change anything. If it is in the past, you can’t relive it or change it regardless of how great you were or how bad you were.

All we have for certain, is today. Even today is iffy. Since today is all we really have then it’s best to not mess it up by constantly looking over our shoulders. You can’t go forward always looking back. In the Bible there was a man named Lot. He and his wife were told not to look back at Sodom and Gomera. She did and turned into a pillar of salt. Looking back has a way of doing that to all us as we become immobilized in time.

What does it take to make you happy? Someone to love and someone who loves you? A few family members to care for who also care for you? Enough money to pay the light bill and keep food on the table? Something to do during the day that you enjoy? The only person who can answer these questions are you because only you know what it really takes to make you happy.

Happiness is very much happenstance. Things change every day. Health, sickness, the stock market, families, jobs and hobbies. Friends and loved ones move away or die. Lie is always changing.

God never changes. Happiness may vary throughout the day or week, but your joy and peace that comes with faith in God and focusing on Him is something the world cannot give or take away.

Keep this verse in mind this day regardless of whether you feel happy or if you are down and blue. “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” Isaiah 26:3.

About the author ~

Glen Mollett is the author of 13 books including Uncommom Sense, the Spiritual Chocolate series, Grandpa's Store, Minister's Guidebook insights from a fellow minister. His column is published weekly in over 600 publications in all 50 states.

The views expressed are those of the author and are not necessarily representative of any other group or organization. We welcome comments and views from our readers. Submit your letters to the editor or commentary on a current event 24/7 to editor@oursentinel.com.

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Senate Republicans demand the removal of the Illinois DOC director amid safety crisis

GOP lawmakers call for IDOC Director Latoya Hughes to resign amid rising prison violence and drug smuggling scandals in Illinois correctional facilities.

SPRINGFIELD — Pressure is mounting on Acting Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, Latoya Hughes, as Republican lawmakers demand her resignation, citing escalating violence, drug smuggling, and what they describe as a breakdown of leadership inside state prisons.

State Rep. Adam Niemerg (R-Dieterich) is leading the charge. After visiting the Robinson and Lawrenceville Correctional Centers in October 2024, Niemerg sounded the alarm on what he called “dangerous working conditions” for correctional staff. He blames Hughes for ongoing assaults on prison personnel and unchecked flows of illegal drugs into the facilities.

“She’s been terrible,” Niemerg said. “We keep having Department of Corrections employees put in the hospital because of incompetent management and bad policies that favor the inmates over the safety and security of the corrections officers and employees.”

In October, correctional employees staged protests outside multiple Illinois prisons, demanding safer work environments. Reports from inside the facilities point to synthetic drugs entering through visitor deliveries and even the mail system. Niemerg claims he’s received calls from current and former staff for nearly a year, begging for help.

“I offered some solutions to the mail process to stop the drugs from getting inside our prisons,” he said. “The bottom line is Governor Pritzker’s hand-picked director is responsible for the proper administration of the Department of Corrections, and the assaults and drug smuggling are still unsolved problems. Ms. Hughes must go!”

In May, State Sen. Jason Plummer pressed Hughes during a legislative hearing on whether the department is using mail scanning technology to intercept contraband. Hughes declined to give a specific number of inmate deaths but confirmed seven drug-related fatalities so far in 2024. Plummer later told reporters Hughes is “not fit for the job” and criticized Governor J.B. Pritzker for what he described as failed oversight. He was joined by fellow Republican Senators Terri Bryant and others in calling for Hughes’ removal.

Despite the political firestorm, Hughes brings more than two decades of legal and public service experience to the role. A graduate of the University of Illinois College of Law, she spent 15 years in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, where she supervised Community Justice Centers and partnered with law enforcement on public safety initiatives. Within the Department of Corrections, she previously served as Chief of Staff and Chief Inspector before being appointed Acting Director in April 2023.

Governor Pritzker has not yet responded publicly to the calls for Hughes’ resignation. Meanwhile, concerns over safety inside Illinois prisons continue to dominate the conversation at the Capitol.