Knox County Sheriff joins lawsuit against IDHS for delays in treatment of defendants

GALESBURG — Knox County Sheriff David Clague has joined a lawsuit filed on June 22 by Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell that accuses Governor J.B. Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Human Services of not complying with Section 104-17 of the Illinois Code of Criminal Procedure which sets a 20-day period for transporting mentally ill inmates from county jails into state custody.

State’s Attorney Jeremy Karlin has appointed Springfield attorney Dylan Grady as special prosecutor to represent Sheriff Clague. Grady currently represents the sheriffs of the four other Illinois counties other than Sangamon and Knox who have joined the lawsuit: Rock Island, Macon, Madison, and McLean.

A hearing on allowing the amended lawsuit that joins the five additional counties is scheduled for 3 p.m. Aug. 1 in Sangamon County.

In the amended lawsuit, the sheriffs allege that they have experienced substantial delays in the admission of defendants into IDHS custody for court-ordered psychiatric treatment, with delays extending many months. This has caused these counties to incur additional costs while holding defendants awaiting placement in DHS." It is further alleged that the delay has endangered the safety of inmates and jail personnel and has reduced the likelihood of restoring unfit defendants to fitness within one year.

The amended lawsuit is in addition to State’s Attorney Karlin’s filing of three contempt petitions against IDHS last week for the same problem. Since the filing of the contempt petitions, one inmate has been transported to an IDHS hospital. A hearing for IDHS to show cause why it should not be held in contempt is expected to occur the first week of August