Good afternoon! Today, we are re-upping our demand for IYC-St Charles to be closed in the next 90 days. In order to build awareness of this crisis affecting youth in Illinois, here is a thread with a brief history of the state youth prison in St. Charles, Illinois. (1/14)

IYC-St. Charles was founded in 1904 as a home for “delinquent” and orphaned youth. It sat on 903 acres of farm land and sought to provide a strong education to youth in custody. Over the past century, however, the conditions of the facility have rapidly deteriorated. (2/14)

Since 1904, the facility has developed a long and tortured history of violence and abuse. As recent as 2016, staff were found to be operating a fight ring which subjected youth to extreme violence and injury. (3/14)

It has long been a target for closure. In 2004, Governor Rod Blagojevich proposed closing IYC-St Charles, but the closing was never carried out. (4/14)

Today, buildings which have been condemned and abandoned remain scattered across the campus. Youth are locked in rotting “cottages” with poor AC and heating systems and little to do besides occasional programming. The attached quote is how youth describe their conditions. (5/14)

In conversations with @CFJC_NULaw, youth at St Charles described being depressed, lonely, and scared and detailed a physical environment which was marred by violence and enforced isolation. (6/14)

The facility now operates as the intake center for IDJJ, which means that all youth in IDJJ must first be processed at IYC-St Charles. The conditions of St Charles thus serve as an inevitable point of trauma for youth who are criminalized and incarcerated by the state. (7/14)

With capacity of IDJJ at an all time low, youth no longer need to be housed at St Charles. IDJJ can transfer youth out of the facility and remain under capacity. By working with families and communities, IDJJ can also keep kids close to home and provide needed resources. (8/14)

In the current system, IYC-St Charles is one of the most violent and abusive facilities yet impacts the lives of all youth who are incarcerated by IDJJ. This is morally reprehensible and indefensible. (9/14)

Last July, shortly before the launch of this campaign, @GovPritzker announced his plan to transform the youth justice system away from prisons like St. Charles. Read more about the plan at the attached link. (10/14) https://www.propublica.org/article/illinois-has-promised-to-infuse-love-in-its-juvenile-justice-system-but-what-will-actually-change

Part of this plan seems to be the remediation and transfer of IYC-St Charles into the hands of the Illinois Department of Corrections. This is inhumane and NOT a transformative plan. Nobody should be incarcerated at St Charles. (11/14)

If @GovPritzker is serious about “infus[ing] love” in a new youth justice system, then St Charles needs to be closed immediately and permanently (!), and we need to invest in restorative alternatives that can replace the rest of the 5 youth prisons. (12/14)

If St Charles remains open and functional, then @GovPritzker remains committed to a system that traumatizes youth and inflicts violence. (13/14)

Over the next 90 days, we will be amplifying calls to permanently close IYC-St Charles. We hope that no person should have to enter the prison at St Charles come 2021. #CloseStCharles (14/14)