SOUTHERN Ill. (KFVS) – The lieutenant governor of Illinois says the safety of everyone inside the state’s correctional facilities is of “utmost importance” amid safety concerns at multiple Illinois prisons.

Illinois Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton was in Murphysboro on Thursday, October 10. While there, Heartland News asked her about recent staff exposures at Illinois prisons and what the Pritzker administration was doing to address those concerns.

“The safety of our corrections officers and all of the staff at IDOC, as well as those that are residents at IDOC, is always of utmost importance,” Stratton said. “Investigations will continue and appropriate steps will be made in accordance to whatever is discovered in these potential threats.”

According to documents obtained by Heartland News, staff members at multiple Illinois prisons have been taken to the hospital after they were potentially exposed to illicit substances.

In September, a group of southern Illinois lawmakers urged the Illinois Department of Corrections to suspend most inmate mail until new safety protocols could be put in place.

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