Parent of Young Man Jailed in Winnebago County Critiques Care

Some really interesting information pops up in comments sometimes.

The one below is found under my weekend article about large county jails in which information about those who are incarcerated can be found on the internet. That information is not available on McHenry County Jail prisoners.

The Winnebago County Sheriff has this picture on his jail on his web site.

The following is from a person who commented as “Winnebago County Jailhouse Blues” about conditions at that that new facility, financed by a law enforcement sales tax passed in 2002:

They treat the inmates very inhumane, in ways people wouldn’t treat a wild animal. My son has been incarcerated for the past month awaiting trial.

He was put in jail because when his girlfriend gets angry, she calls the police and lies just to punish my son. I have heard so many of the same stories from other people too.

My view on the new jail is not good. I believe they are arresting people for very petty things and taking them away from their families, causing them to loose their jobs out of nothing but greed.

They need to keep that new huge jail full somehow. We all know that the crime rate here is not worse than Chicago and the only thing that makes it look like that, is because of all the unnecessary arrests made here.

Sheriff Meyers wants to purchase kiosk system machines so the inmates can get their own commissaries with out a jailer handing them out. The jail processed about $540,000 worth of commissary purchases in 2009, with more than $190,000 of profit made off of the inflated price they charge the inmates.

They admit that they made over $190,000.00 on commissions in just one year, let that money buy those machines. I don’t want to hear that they have to raise taxes again to pay for the kiosk systems.

The food portions in the jail are not enough to get full and I hear are worse than dog food. I would hope that we wouldn’t treat a dog this way and I cant understand why they think its OK to treat a human this way.

For example, the jail charges $1.00 for one bag of Ramon noodles, They actually cost 10 cents in the store. That’s a hefty profit. The inmates only buy that junk because they are still hungry after they are fed the dog food. They don’t get a plastic bowl or spoon either. They get the bag of noodles, they have to carefully open the side, fill the bag with hot tap water and wait a half hour before the noodles are soft enough to drink from the bag by then its good and cold.

I wouldn’t feed my dog like that.

Other states actually feed their prisoners enough food to get full and guess what? There is less violence in those jails too. Common sense only tells you that.

Another way they make money off the inmates is from commissions from the highly inflated cost of collect phone calls the inmates and their families pay for.

Do you know Illinois jails made almost $6,000,000.00 last year on phone commissions alone?. The high phone costs does nothing but hurt families and the children that want to speak to a parent or talk to a dieing friend, but cant afford to because the cost is so inflated.

Other states don’t charge enormous amounts of money for phone calls or food and they realize that keeping in touch with their families only helps the inmate get back into the world in a positive way. This state does everything it can to hinder anything positive. In this broke economy we need stop wasting tax dollars by putting people in jail on petty things. Check out illinoistelephonejustice.com

Inmates have the right to medical care, yet my son slipped and fell and hurt his leg that he crushed 3 weeks ago. He has requested to see a doctor and I have called to get him seen, yet after 3 weeks he still has not been seen.

He is in an enormous amount of pain and all he gets is an aspirin? This is cruel and inhumane.

That jail needs to be shut down or ran by people that know constitutional rights. We wouldn’t let an animal live in pain yet they are purposely letting my son live in pain.

He needs a cast and crutches, yet he is expected to walk on his broken leg with no pain medicine everyday. These people that run that jail have no business running it. The jailers are rude and nasty, yet they expect respect. How can anyone respect anyone who is cruel, rude and inhumane?

I hope that people start speaking up and tell the world how the Winnebago county jail truly is. They need to be exposed for their ugliness.


Comments

Parent of Young Man Jailed in Winnebago County Critiques Care — 5 Comments

  1. Wow- a parent who doesn’t believe her son deserves to be in jail! I’ve NEVER heard of such a thing!

  2. I don’t think this was the purpose of this writer. She has some valid points about the inhumane treatment in that jail. If her son did hurt his leg in jail and if they are not doing anything, they should be sued. I don’t care who it is or what they might or might not have done, they still deserve medical care. I also know a couple young women that use calling the cops to get even with their boyfriends. Young women are pretty immature when it comes to destroying a young mans life. The visiting thing is also wrong and it does sound as if they do make it hard to visit. This mans mother shouldn’t have this hard of a time to see her son. She is obviously angry and from what I read, she has the right to be angry. Her son is still innocent until proven guilty. I also agree that they waste way too much of our tax dollars. I think most men get in a bad mood when they are hungry. Does make sense that if they were fed better there would be less violence. I know I would feel like punching someones lights out if I had to live everyday on terrible food and felt hungry all the time.
    I would like to know more about the commissions the jail takes in on phone calls and food. What do they do with all that money? We as tax payers who paid for that place have the right to know.

  3. Wow – I cant believe it to be possible that a person would be sitting in jail, waiting for their day in court to prove their innocence. I’ve NEVER heard of such a thing!

  4. Yet another one-side whine from the mother of someone who may (or may not) have anger management issues. Good start for a rational explanation or complaint about the care he’s receiving in the jail. Quantity and quality of food in correctional facilities is subjective for the most part. If he’s used to steak, lobster and caviar at every meal, his experience in jail is really going to bum him out. There is a difference between giving him what he NEEDS and what he WANTS. Most folks seem to wind up in jail for the very reason that they take or do what they WANT without regard to the consequences. As for the injury… I’m not at all that sure from her ramblings that the injury occurred in the jail. Whether or not he’s receiving adequate care for whatever the injury is – regardless of where/when it occurred – is open to debate. I do know – from personal experience – that many broken legs are NOT placed in a cast. At any rate, unless Mom is an MD, I place her opinion right next to a used car salesman’s when it comes to diagnosing sonny boy’s medical problems.

    If it’s THAT bad, Mom, bond his sorry butt out and take him home with you. With a 10% bond, what’s the most it could be $500? If it’s more than that, methinks that maybe we’re not hearing even half the story here.

  5. I was in jail there for something dum but that place is a joke I wouldn’t let my dog live there I wish I knew what I could do to complan e-mail me with answer anyone justcoreyp@aol.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *