Rockford Sun

Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park) came to the defense of the Department of Corrections (DOC) during a recent five-hour-long House Appropriations-Public Safety Committee hearing on violence in DOC facilities.

After three witnesses spoke before lawmakers, Cabello said he would not stand for unsubstantiated claims being brought against the DOC.

“We need to make sure that we are very clear in what we are talking about here,” Cabello said. “We want to make sure that we can do the best that we can possibly do, but we will not drag the men and women of the Department of Corrections through the mud for this.”

Rep. John Cabello (R-Machesney Park

Rep. Kelly Cassidy (D-Chicago), the panel's chair, assured Cabello that was not the intention of the panel witnesses during the hearing, which revealed a rise in violent assaults as well as copious quantities of bootleg alcohol being made in one of the correctional facilities.

Anne Irving, director of public policy for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) Council 31, said the DOC and the union do not necessarily see eye-to-eye on the recent surge in assaults.

“I have heard DOC in response to these; they are not serious, which is why I began my testimony with if the DOC does not think it is serious that someone is being splashed with feces or grabbed, I think that is the wrong attitude,” Irving said. “I don’t think people should have to go to work with the expectation that is just part of their job.”

Corey Knop, a Lawrence Correctional Center officer and president of AFSCME District Council 36, said in his 18 years with the DOC, he has never seen the amount of bootleg alcohol produced as he has in the last two years at the center near Sumner. According to the correction officer, budget cuts are directly related to the problem.

“One of the suppliers we were getting juice from would not give us juice anymore because we were not paying them, and it was 10 percent juice. The fix was they went to another vendor and that vendor supplied us with a 100 percent juice, so they were able to start producing alcohol,” Knop said. "DOC doesn’t even consider it a reportable offense unless there’s 5 gallons. Can you imagine having 5 gallons of alcohol in a population like that?”

Cabello said he wanted to hear from other witnesses at the next hearing.

“I would just hope that we would start asking some of the victims’ families about this,” he said.