Illinois officials are moving forward with a plan to build a pair of prisons to replace two other aging facilities. The state has budgeted $900 million for the work, and the Illinois Capital Development Board and Illinois Department of Corrections recently issued a request for proposals seeking a construction manager and consultant to oversee design and construction.
The planned multi-level security prisons would each contain 1,500 individual cells, as well as space for health and other services. One would house men and the other would house women, according to state officials.
The prisons will replace two aging facilities, Stateville Correctional Center in Crest Hill, Illinois, and Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Illinois. Stateville has already been largely closed after a judge ordered inmates to be moved to other facilities in late September because of dangerous conditions in the dilapidated building that originally opened in 1925. It is estimated that repairs to the Stateville building would cost more than $250 million, plus design problems restrict space for Records show inmates’ “out-of-cell time” and they need additional staff. And Logan, which opened in 1978, is “”inefficient, ineffective and inappropriate for any population,” according to a third-party report prepared for the state.
Officials have identified unused land at the Stateville site as potential locations for the two future prisons.
Companies interested in the RFP have until December 16 to complete a prequalification process with the Capital Development Board. Officials plan to select three to five companies to interview, records show. Details are available on the board’s recruitment website.
“We are looking for a team with the experience and vision to help implement Illinois’ bold investment in correctional infrastructure, improving our ability to deliver effective rehabilitation programs and prepare returning citizens for successful reentry,” he said. said Latoya Hughes, acting director of state Corrections. Department, in a statement.
The construction manager would be excluded from participating in additional design and construction contracts related to the project.
The Capital Development Board’s provisional objective is to present its selection next April.
