Resolution urging state to bring Corrections Memorial to the Capitol passes General Assembly

A resolution sponsored by Rep. Gregg Johnson urging the state to erect a Corrections Memorial Wall on the grounds of the state Capitol was overwhelmingly adopted by the General Assembly in the final days of the legislative session.

When the Illinois Department of Corrections first built the memorial in 2001, AFSCME urged the department to install it on the Capitol grounds, alongside memorials to police and firefighters who died on the job.

Instead, the department chose to erect the memorial on the grounds of the IDOC Training Academy. With the department in the process of vacating that facility, the area around the memorial has fallen into disrepair, making it a totally unsuitable and inappropriate space to honor the corrections employees who have died in the line of duty. 

Corrections employees face extraordinary risks every day. Over the last 200 years, Illinois has seen the third-most correctional officers killed in the line of duty of any state. Corrections employees, their families and the public should be able to pay their respects to those fallen heroes in a setting worthy of their sacrifice. 

The passed resolution is non-binding, but it will provide a strong basis for our union and legislative allies to continue pushing to bring the Memorial Wall to the Capitol.