April 7, 2020
Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has signed an executive order allowing for furloughs of inmates in state prisons. The order, issued on April 6, 2020, grants the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) authority to allow a temporary furlough for “medically vulnerable inmates.
Governor Pritzker declared all Illinois counties as a disaster area on March 9, 2020 in response to the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID 19). He made a second disaster proclamation on April 1.
According to Executive Order 2020-21, IDOC currently has a population of more than 36,000 inmates in 28 facilities. The inmates are in close proximity and contact with each other because of housing and dining halls. This makes them “especially vulnerable to contracting and spreading COVID-19[.] Further, the order states, the IDOC does not have sufficient housing to isolate and quarantine inmates who are symptomatic or test positive for COVID-19.
“[T]o ensure that the Director of the IDOC may take all necessary steps, consistent with public health guidance, to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the IDOC facilities and provide necessary healthcare to those impacted by COVID-19, it is critical to provide the Director with discretion to use medical furloughs to allow medically vulnerable inmates to temporarily leave IDOC facilities, when necessary and appropriate and taking into account the health and safety of the inmate, as well as the health and safety of other inmates and staff in IDOC facilities and the community.”
The order allows the furlough of inmates up to the duration of the Governor’s Disaster Proclamations for “medical, psychiatric or psychological purposes … at the Director’s discretion and consistent with the guidance of the IDOC Acting Medical Director.”
Source: Illinois.gov. Executive Order 2020-21. Executive Order in Response to COVID-19. April 6, 2020.