WATCH: Frustration mounts with Dept. of Corrections ‘unseriousness,’ ‘timeliness problem’

By Jim Talamonti | The Center Square
The Center Square

(The Center Square) – The Illinois Department of Corrections has begun scanning prison inmates’ mail, but lawmakers are not happy with delays in the process and the department’s ongoing issues.

The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules met Tuesday as the fall veto session got underway in Springfield.

Committee members discussed an emergency rule for IDOC to scan inmate mail in an effort to reduce the risk of contraband entering correctional facilities.

IDOC Director Latoya Hughes said electronic scanning of inmate mail with tablets began last month.

State Rep. Curtis Tarver, D-Chicago, asked Hughes if the tablets prioritized games and apps over scanning mail.

“The functionality of the tablets are being built as we go. I’ve tried to explain it in prior meetings. It’s similar to, again, the plane is being built as its flown,” Hughes said. “We are continually building items onto that tablet so that it has all of the functionality that we need, but games were certainly not prioritized.”

Tarver expressed similar concerns at a JCAR meeting last month. Tuesday, he told Hughes he would not lie and say he was happy with how things have gone.

“I’m going to take you to your word. You’ve always been a woman of your word. I appreciate that, but I will tell you that there are not very many more opportunities to not get it right,” Tarver said.

Hughes said IDOC has met with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to print physical mail for inmates who request it.

Tarver and state Rep. Steven Reick, R-Woodstock, both questioned why the tablet vendor was not providing the one thing the department needed.

Reick told Hughes a lot of things would have to be done between now and December for IDOC to get a permanent rule for mail scanning in place.

“The fact that you waited until Sept. 29 to start scanning, irrespective of whether there was a problem with the app or not, tells me there’s a certain amount of unseriousness going on here,” Reick said.

State Rep. Ryan Spain, R-Peoria, said the collaborative process between IDOC and the committee must be accelerated.

“We have a timeliness problem here, and I have to say it’s a timeliness issue really created by the Department,” Spain said. “When you file emergency rules one day after the August JCAR meeting and then wait 45 days before you begin the implementation of the subject for which the emergency rules were filed, we have now created a problem for the beginning of the year 2026 on where we go next.”

Spain said IDOC’s rule-making authority would be on the agenda for the next JCAR meeting Nov. 18.

Catrina Barker contributed to this story.