Rockford Sun

After the secretary of the Illinois Department of Human Services ignored an order to transport an inmate to a mental health center, Rep. Jeff Keicher blamed the governor’s executive orders.

“The governor still refuses to accept responsibility for the dysfunction and failures caused by his excessive use of executive orders,” he wrote on Facebook. “Checks and balances need to be restored to ensure our state is operating efficiently and in the best interest of the Illinoisans we represent.”

Illinois Policy noted Gov. J.B. Pritzker made approximately 100 executive orders at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his Facebook post, Keicher shared a link to a State Journal-Review article focusing on IDHS Secretary Grace Hou. Hou has been ordered to appear in Sangamon County Circuit Court on Friday to answer charges that the agency ignored an order to place 38-year-old Christopher Hall in the Andrew McFarland Mental Health Center for psychiatric treatment.

Hall, who had been charged last year on four counts of first-degree murder, aggravated discharge of a firearm, being an armed habitual offender and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon in the shooting death of Hason Willis, 43, of Springfield, was ruled unfit to stand trial in May and ordered to be placed at McFarland.

NBC Chicago 5 reported Pritzker signed an executive order that allowed “medically vulnerable” inmates to furlough after the coronavirus spread in prisons.

According to WCIA, Hall was arrested on Oct. 6, 2021, after the shooting of Willis. Investigation of the incident that led to Willis’ death revealed that detectives discovered an altercation had taken place at the same place the previous night.

In that first incident, the suspect determined to be Hall had brandished a gun and threatened people. 

WandTV reported Hall was in the custody of the Sangamon County Jail and Willis died at the HSHS St. John’s Hospital.

This is not the first time the IDHS has been held in contempt. 

On June 30, the State Journal-Register reported that IDHS was guilty of indirect civil contempt of court for failing to follow an April 7 order that required it to transfer a Sangamon County Jail prisoner to the McFarland Mental Health Center for psychiatric evaluation.

The inmate, from Springfield, had been scheduled to arrive at the facility Monday. However, the ruling said IDHS blocked the transfer.

On a separate occasion, Keicher criticized Pritzker’s use of executive orders in handling the pandemic.

“Due to the governor’s executive orders in response to (coronavirus), no exceptions existed to allow for end-of-life visitation with a family member in a health care facility,” he wrote on his website in April. “Even as mitigation rules were changed in response to the pandemic, residents in skilled nursing homes, extended care or intermediate care facilities were denied even one visitor.”

Keicher was first elected to the Illinois House in 2018. A Republican, his legislative experience includes serving on the Appropriations-Higher Education and Immigration & Human Rights Committee. Keicher is a state representative who resides in DeKalb, according to the Illinois House.