Associated Press
VIENNA, Ill. — A minimum-security prison in southern Illinois has long been derided by a watchdog group as one the state’s most crowded lockups, and now reporters will be able to see it for themselves.
The Illinois Department of Corrections on Friday afternoon plans to open up the Vienna (vy-EHN'-nuh) Correctional Center in Johnson County for a media tour.
The availability to reporters comes more than a year after the nonprofit John Howard Association issued a report about flooding, vermin, inoperable toilets, mold and more in the lockup. The watch-dog group called the living conditions “deplorable,” following years of complaints about overcrowding and understaffing.
The prison system says there are some 1,600 inmates at the prison, which the John Howard Association contends was designed to house 685.