Morgan County Sheriff Mike Carmody says he’s not having any problems with the Illinois Department of Corrections’ intake of inmates.
WGEM in Quincy reported earlier in the week that several county sheriffs have been complaining about housing inmates sentenced to IDOC for months at their own expense.
Carmody says you won’t hear that complaint from him. He says everyone is doing the best that they can in unprecedented times: “The Illinois Department of Corrections is going through what every department is going through. I believe they are doing their very best to help out people. I don’t have any complaints, and I know there has been lawsuits and everything else, but the truth is, I really think they have done everything they can especially during a pandemic, which is unprecedented. I believe Illinois Department of Corrections has helped us out as much as they can.”
Carmody says the Morgan County Sheriff’s Office has seen extra expenses for cleaning and housing additional inmates as well as purchasing a van for intakes and transports of prisoners to IDOC. Carmody says he’s just had to adapt and change his budget just like everyone else has during the pandemic, and will continue to do so until normalcy resumes.
Carmody says he does have some extra female inmates locally that are awaiting intake: “We probably have [an excess] of female inmates that are waiting to go for intake most predominantly. We are hoping to get them into Lincoln Correctional Facility or another female facility very soon. It’s just a tough time. It’s a tough time for everybody. Not just Morgan County, it’s everybody.”
Carmody believes it’s not a very good idea to go after IDOC with lawsuits over the matter. He thinks it’s counter-productive and doesn’t get anyone closer to a solution.
Morgan County currently shares housing of inmates with Cass and Scott County as both of those two adjoining counties do not have their own detention facilities.
IDOC says it’s currently committed to “safely admitting as many men and women from the counties as possible. Intakes are scheduled based on space availability, quarantine requirements and COVID-19 test results. IDOC says they have processed over 7,900 inmates since they began accepting inmates on August 3rd of last year.“