Civil-rights attorneys filed an amended suit in a class-action case, now called Richard v. Pritzker, demanding that state officials speed the release of Illinois prisoners who are highly vulnerable to COVID-19, according to a press release from Uptown People's Law Center.
According to the release, "Last month, a federal court recognized that thousands of people in IDOC [the Illinois Department of Corrections] custody are at risk for serious illness and even death if COVID-19 continues to spread though IDOC prisons. Despite this fact, the emergency request for a process that would expedite the release of those particularly at risk was denied.
"Prison settings pose a particularly dangerous risk of spreading the virus with catastrophic consequences, as evidenced by the outbreak in Stateville Prison that overwhelmed the St. Joseph Medical Center in Joliet."
Plaintiffs are represented by the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, the Community Justice Civil Rights Clinic at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Illinois Prison Project, Uptown People's Law Center, Loevy & Loevy Attorneys at Law and Equip for Equality and IIT Chicago—Kent College of Law professor Carolyn Shapiro.