By KELSEY WATZNAUER
Herald & Review, Decatur, Ill.
LINCOLN, Ill. — Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln is closing, and the women housed there will be relocated, officials announced Friday.
The announcement comes two years after Gov. JB Pritzker said the state was setting aside money to construct two new prisons to replace the women’s prison in Lincoln and the men’s Stateville Correctional Center in suburban Chicago.
The Illinois Capital Development Board, in partnership with IDOC, is seeking a “progressive design build entity” to construct the two new multilevel security facilities in Crest Hill , on the same site as the Stateville prison, according to a news release.
State Sen. Sally Turner, R- Beason, state Rep. Bill Hauter, R- Morton, Logan County Board Chair James R. Glenn and Lincoln Mayor Tracy Welch released a joint statement Friday afternoon, calling the decision “ill-advised and devastating.”
“Let’s be clear, this is the wrong move for the correctional system, for the staff of the facility, for our communities, and for those who reside at Logan,” they said in the prepared statement.
In April 2024, IDOC recommended Logan, which is the state’s only multilevel women’s correctional facility, be shuttered and rebuilt more than 140 miles away on the same site as the Stateville prison. In a state report, the Central Illinois facility was described as “inefficient, ineffective, and unsuitable for any population.”
The state lawmakers and local officials said Illinois should instead be investing in repairs and upgrades at the Logan prison, “so that it can best serve its role to rehabilitate people to become productive members of society.
“Moving the facility will do nothing to improve outcomes for those who are incarcerated there, it will absolutely devastate our local communities, and it will force staff to choose between uprooting their families from their homes or going on unemployment,” the said.
As of March 2025, Logan Correctional Center employed 450 people and had an incarcerated population of just over 1,000.
The new women’s facility in Crest Hill will have a capacity of 800 beds, and the men’s facility, which will replace the existing Stateville prison, will have a capacity of 1,500 beds, according the state’s announcement.
Additional housing could also be built for the men’s facility, the state said.
Analysis by the state’s construction and advising team showed the Crest Hill site provides the capacity, configuration and infrastructure necessary “to support a modern women’s correctional facility without operational compromises,” according to the state.
The analysis found the current Logan Correctional Center site and alternative sites in Lincoln did not have the space or site conditions “required to accommodate the new women’s facility within the established acreage, security, and operational parameters. Building two Crest Hill facilities supports a significantly shortened project duration, stronger cost control, and a facility design that meets IDOC’s operational and rehabilitative objectives,” the state said.
The Logan prison will remain open throughout construction, and IDOC said its plan to transfer inmates will be “firmly rooted in safety, security, and operational continuity.”
Turner, Hauter, Glenn and Welch said: “This is one more in a devastating series of blows to hit our community in recent years. We believe in the strength and determination of the people of Logan County and we will continue to fight this decision.”
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