Ill. (WTWO/WAWV) — This past October, members of the Lawrence Correctional Center, in Illinois, stood protest over safety concerns.
Now, State Senator Chapin Rose is proposing changes.
After taking a tour of the Lawrenceville and Robinson prisons in November, Rose has drafted an extensive public safety package, focusing on the workers and staff in those facilities.
Rose says, just walking around, he noticed inmates using drugs.
“What I saw was sort of unbelievable at some level, it absolutely is real”, Rose said. “The amount of drugs coming into these facilities is absolutely real. The safety and security of the men and women that work in these facilities has got to be our paramount concern.”
Rose says he will be filing a correctional worker protection act, as the conditions are unsafe for officers and staff.
The biggest item on his life is drug-sniffing dogs.
“We don’t have a single drug sniffing dog in a facility in the state”, Rose said. “We don’t even have a dog that can go from facility to facility to facility and do randoms searches. You can imagine how much of this we can cut down on if we did have a drug dog in every facility.”
Rose says he has drafted his personal ideas, and the next steps will be to talk to staff directly.
“Most importantly, lets support these men and women that are in there every day”, Rose said. “Again, it’s just like this father calling me, when you send your loved one off, whether it’s your husband, wife, son, or daughter, you want to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to make sure that they are safe and come home at night. This has gotten out of control.”
Rose says he believes this will be a session-long issue, as he will spend the next few months talking to officers and staff of the correctional facilities to finalize these safety measures.
