Body Camera Legislation
In the year of 2022, several correctional officers beat an elderly prisoner to death at the Western Illinois Correctional Center. This is located in Mt. Sterling, Illinois. You can look up the story on line.
With a growing push for legislation to require the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) staff to wear daily body cameras, I bring you this scenario. This to protect the IDOC prisoners from further civil rights violations.
Yes, this legislation is necessary. I now state a recent event that took place at the Illinois River Correctional Center. Once you understand what went down on June 28, 2023, you will have to decide what is rehabilitation? What kind of man is the IDOC creating? Then turning that person free to go back into society to live as your neighbor.
On June 28, 2023, the IDOC Tactical Response Unit did a “training drill.” This was done at the medium security units in the Illinois River Correctional Center. At 5 a.m. the tactical squad raided the A-Wing in One-House, and the D-Wing in Three House.
The IDOC employee had on a helmet with a face shield plus a body armor vest. All clothing was black, right down to the black, steel-toed boots. Each Officer carried a four-foot-long oak club with a wristband attached to their hands.
It was five am when they woke the men in One-House, A-Wing. I reside in 32 cell on the lower deck. I was not allowed to use the toilet to relieve my bladder. I was told to remove my religious necklace and my watch and place them on my bed. Each man was told to remove all jewelry. Then I was instructed to come to the front of the cell. I had to remove all my clothing. I was then subjected to a strip search. I then was allowed to have my underwear, socks and the blue prison pants and shirt. I was given my tennis shoes last.
Once I was dressed, I was cuffed behind my back and removed from my cell. I was placed in the wall space between cell 32 and cell 31. I was ordered to keep my head down with my eyes on the floor.
Then my cellmate, Mr. Kevin Washington, was given the same routine. Now one must remember, no prisoner on A-Wing or D-Wing resisted the shake down. The prisoner body was awakened at five am. Most men need to relieve their bladder after a night of sleep. But this was not allowed—a sadistic act with no penological reason.
Once all the men on A-Wing had been removed from their living quarters, we were moved into a gauntlet of officers with long oak sticks. Each officer was yelling, “Keep your head down, look at the ground.” Why? Because the officer does not want the prisoner to see his or her face, to be able to tie the person to the draconian act being applied to them.
We marched in two-file through the gauntlet to the prisoner dining hall. Once there we were seated at the four-man chow hall tables. We remained cuffed behind our backs, more sadistic treatment with no penological purpose.
At around seven am the Tactical Response Unit lieutenant started to allow one man at a time to use the toilet. At around eight-fifteen am, the call came. It was time to return the men to A-Wing.
We again had to run the gauntlet of officers with four-foot-long clubs, fully dressed in riot gear. Once we reached our cell, I was chosen first. I was placed in the door frame. The officer removed the cuffs from my wrist. Then I was ordered to move to the back wall of my cell. I was ordered to face the wall.
My celly was now placed in the door frame and uncuffed. He was ordered to step into the cell. BOOM! The door slammed shut. I turned and looked into my celly’s face to find the same surprised look. For all our property was in one big pile on the top bunk. What did not fit on Kevin’s bed had fallen to the floor.
I have several legal files. In each file are the legal documents in chronological order. At this time, I have two civil rights suits in the U.S. Central District Court in Peoria, Illinois; and I have a Mandamus Order Petition in the Fulton County Courthouse, Lewistown, Illinois. This Mandamus Order seeks to order the warden and staff to correct their illegal acts. I ask that I be given my rights under the Illinois Statutes while incarcerated.
All these documents had been removed from their files, then removed from their folders. All documents had been in my legal storage box. Now all my files were tossed upon my celly’s bunk, and on the floor. An illegal act by the Tactical Squad.
Mr. Washington had personal correspondence, like mailed letters and legal work. This was all tossed together with my documents, in the big pile on his bunk and on the floor. As Mr. Washington is a body builder, his numerous books and articles were also dumped into the large pile.
To destroy a cell like this is asking for trouble. The rules on a shake down state the cell is to be left in the condition it was found in. The “tossing” of a cell is movie hype not allowed by the rules. But here we have the Tactical Squad supervisors teaching and allowing this to happen.
All the soap I had in my soap dishes was gone—my soap by the sink, my soap in my shower kit, and the backup soap in my property box was missing. My celly received the same treatment. Strong arm theft acting under the color of law. An illegal act.
All my dirty laundry and my celly’s dirty laundry had been removed from our laundry bags. It was missed together with our clean clothing. Then tossed into the pile that flowed from the top bunk. This is a sign of total disrespect for the prisoner. It is a statement the man is looking for a fight. Not cool at all—and being taught by the Tactical Squad supervisor.
I had a new sports watch I had bought from the prisoner commissary on May 18th. My celly had a watch too, also bought at the prisoner commissary. Both were stolen by the Tactical officer who tossed our cell.
I had food from the prisoner commissary in my property box. The Tactical officer took two honey buns, two beef summer sausage. The officer removed twelve Ramen Noodles and one bag of BBQ Corn Chips from my property. The officer tore my head phone extension cable in half. He left it hanging on my TV—strong arm theft again.
All my condiments were removed from the plastic bags they were sold in. My ketchup, mustard, ranch dressing, mayo, and Kool Aid packs were dumped into a large pile in the bottom of my storage box. Not allowed and not cool. A coward’s act of power, acting under the color of law.
All of our half full bottles of body wash, cosmetics we had were gone. Again, strong arm theft that is not allowed.
The rules state this is not allowed to happen. To destroy a cell in a shake down is an act of intimidation. It is seeking a physical response from the IDOC prisoner.
I requested my cellhouse lieutenant, Lieutenant Skaggs, to come to my cell and verify the stolen watch and other property, to view the condition my cell was left in. Lt. Skaggs refused to come to my cell, for he was not going to verify the illegal acts by his comrades.
This strong arm theft, destruction of property and insult to the prisoner was being taught by the IDOC Supervisors, then sanctioned by the Chief Administrative Officer, Warden Chyrrle Hin-thorne. So was she trying to provoke a physical response?
The little bit of property allowed and owned by the prisoner means a lot. To the majority of the men, it is all they have left in their life. These acts of theft and destruction of property ran rampant through the A-Wing Cells on June 28th. These acts send a loud message to the prisoner.
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The message to the prisoner was, “You have no rights. The laws and rules do not apply to you. Our staff can act in this manner with impunity.”
Then this fact is backed up by the Tactical Squad officer signing the shake down receipt slip stating, ” Nothing found, nothing taken.” Then the Tactical Response Unit supervisors will sign off on this. So now it is the prisoner’s word against the officer’s word. We all know where that goes.
Remember, most of these men come from poor families. The hard-earned money that is sent in to the family member, is tough to replace. When the officer breaks a TV it is at least a two-hundred- fifty-dollar loss. When the 0fficer takes the prisoner’s headphones the prisoner can no longer listen to his TV or music. To steal books, pictures, and commissary products is a loss hard to replace. All these acts ran rampant on A-Wing, and D-Wing, on June 28th.
Now I pose this question to you, “Do you think this type of treatment will rehabilitate the prisoner?”
What this type of treatment creates is a prisoner forced to swallow this rage and to accept the fact the IDOC System is not fair. The prisoner must come to terms with the fact that there is no one watching the overseers. The prisoner must come to terms with the fact that the rules only apply to him or her, that he or she is not here to be rehabilitated, but to be further punished at the pleasure of the IDOC Staff.
Is the prisoner supposed to get equal protection under the laws? Yes. This is found in Article One, Bill of Rights, in the Illinois Constitution. At Section Two it reads, “No person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of the law, nor be denied equal protection of the laws.”
The Illinois Constitution has a Bill of Rights. At Section Eleven it states, “Limitation On Penalties After Conviction. All penalties shall be determined both according to the seriousness of the offense and with the objective of restoring the offender to useful citizenship.”
Can one really rehabilitate a prisoner when they are subjected to an arbitrary system, a reign of impunity given to the staff? The IDOC Tactical supervisors taught this drill. They sanctioned these acts. The supervisors taught the staff it was all right to steal from the prisoner, that is was all right to destroy their TVs, to destroy their property, to toss the cell in disrespect to the prisoners’ living quarters. Then these supervisors covered it all up by refusing to record the cell shakedown or document it.
It seems to me that the only way to solve this problem is to require the correctional security staff to wear a body camera attached to their uniform daily. This for the protection of the prisoners’ civil rights, as well as the Department of Corrections staff.
6-29-2023, Larry “Rocky” Harris
