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Coffee with Mayor Tracy Welch Part One
Logan Correctional Center will close
[June 08, 2026]
On Saturday, June 6th, Lincoln
Mayor Tracy Welch hosted Coffee with the Mayor at Guest House Coffee
and Pastries in Lincoln. This meeting was originally scheduled for
May 2nd but an unexpected conflict forced a rescheduling. Joining
Welch at the table this month was Ward Two Alderman Tim Becke,
Lincoln Fire Chief Ty Johnson, and nominee for Logan County Sheriff
Joshua Pharis. Earlier this year, Pharis won the primary election
for his office, and will run unopposed in the upcoming general
election, therefore, he will, by the end of the year, be sworn in as
the new sheriff, replacing departing sheriff Mark Landers.
The large meeting room at Guest
House was filled with people, there to hear from the mayor and his
guests, ask questions about topics related to the city, and offer
opinions about matters of concern.
After welcoming the guests, Welch immediately went into a discussion
about a Friday conference call with the Illinois Department of
Corrections. In that call, Illinois Senator Sally Turner,
Representative Bill Hauter, Logan County Board Chair JR Glenn, and
Welch all received the news that Logan Correctional Center will be
closed at some point in the future.
Welch said he was somewhat surprised because he had gotten word that
the prison was going to remain open. He said he had recently toured
the facility and had noted obvious improvements that were ongoing
and had felt optimistic that the long-established women’s prison
would remain. He added that the conference call was simply a
“courtesy call” letting him and his counterparts know the bad news,
with no room for discussion.
Joni Tibbs left, Marty Neitzel right
Former Mayor Marty Neitzel was in
the audience and commented that the state would say that it was a
wash because it had permitted the construction of the new youth
detention center in Lincoln. Welch said yes, but there was even
more. After 20 years, the state is finally doing something at the
former Lincoln Development Center. Welch said it was for that very
reason that he could not be aggressive in expressing his opinions
about the Friday call. He said that if the city should be
“unagreeable” then the governor could say Lincoln was being
uncooperative and could pull back on plans for the demolition of
eyesore buildings on the LDC property.
At the same time, he did comment that losing the prison is going to
be a hard blow for the city and the county. He predicted a decrease
in population when correction officers relocate to other prisons and
increases in displaced workers and unemployment for those who choose
not to leave the community.
Welch said that the state had said it wanted to maintain a “safe”
environment for detainees and he and Becke had discussed what did
that exactly mean? One guest in the room was a retired employee of
Logan Correctional who said she had transferred to Lincoln when
DeWitt was closed years ago. She said from the IDOC perspective,
“safe” ultimately means there are enough staff to manage the inmate
population.
Tim McDougal was in attendance, and he said that he had heard that
staff are already leaving Logan. Welch said that was probably a wise
move. He said that in his experience, the state is very good at
acting with little or no notice, so making career choices sooner
rather than later is a good idea.
Welch said one of the things that worries him is that the new
facility scheduled to be built at Crest Hill which is in the Joliet
area, is reported to be an 800-capacity prison. He said he is pretty
certain there are a lot more than 800 inmates at Logan right now.
Again, the woman with history with the prison confirmed, saying when
she left, the population at Logan was roughly 990 inmates and
rising.
So, what’s done is done. Welch said in addition to the loss of jobs
and population he has another concern. He noted that when the state
abandoned LDC, the property sat for 20 years with no upkeep or
maintenance nor was it demolished. He said that the site was an
eyesore for visitors as it was visible from the main thoroughfare.
He hopes that the same will not be true of Logan Correctional. While
he notes that it is not visible to the public, allowing it to sit
and decay is not the right thing to do.
[to top of second column]
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Ward Two Alderman
Tim Becke left,
Joshua Pharis right
Pharis added to this saying that
for years, LDC has been a hot spot for burglary and thievery. He
said that people have gone in and grabbed anything they could get
their hands on and have even gone so far as ripping the copper
wiring right out of the walls. He said if Logan Correctional is not
demolished, it will be the next hot spot, which will tax local law
enforcement.
A member of the
audience said he didn’t understand why the state couldn’t refurbish
Logan Correctional and eventually re-open it. Welch commented “The
simple answer is that would make sense.”
Pharis was invited to speak about the Logan County Sheriff’s
Department. He shared about the expansion of the Logan County Safety
Complex, saying that the new construction would be an expansion of
the current jail facility that would be an asset for working with
detainees with mental health issues on a county level. He said the
new facility is slated to be open mid-August.
He said right now there are a lot of burglaries in the county and
noted that much of it is happening on rural farms. He said that
planting is done, and what is happening is that farmers are going to
the fields to check on their crops and discovering that their
irrigation and hydration systems have been stripped of their copper
wiring.
Welch said that it takes a lot of copper to make a few dollars. He
noted that in the pawn industry buyers are required to get
identification and ask specific questions before they purchase. He
wondered if the same kind of requirements couldn’t be imposed on
scrap buyers. Taking IDs and asking specific questions about where
the copper came from could deter thieves.
Becke asked how well the city and county law enforcement agencies
work together. Pharis said he feels there is a good working
relationship between the two departments. He noted that the
detectives from both departments are good together, and that the
city and county have the same reporting system which allows for
excellent cross-referencing. He added that he is looking forward to
building his own chief to sheriff relationship with Chief of Police
Joe Meister.
Discussion continued about the biggest issues for law enforcement
and delivering public information to the citizens. Pharis said there
was a good amount of information that can be released to the public,
but it must be done carefully, without some specific details of the
crime. Pharis added that the city and county are doing good work
with drug enforcement but that much of that information cannot be
discussed publicly.
Talk moved on to methods of informing
the public. Becke asked the audience what modes of communication
they utilize. No one answered except for one person who said that to
get information to the public, law enforcement should exploit all
avenues from websites to news sources to social media.
Becke said that the city uses GoLinc to receive complaints and
concerns about goings on in the city and he thinks it is a great
asset. Welch agreed that many issues in the city are addressed
through GoLinc. Welch said furthermore that app offers follow up
emails and information to complaints, so constituents know when
action has been taken.
Pharis said the county uses Nixel to inform the public when there
are hazards, such as roads that are blocked due to emergencies or
severe storms coming into the area.
One guest said that there were big issues with posting on social
media. He said first it becomes a massive number of posts on a
single topic, with conflicting information and speculation being
reported as fact. He added that a lot of what is said is not
accurate and misleads the public. Another guest supported the first
saying that those who post on social media don’t care to get the
facts, they just want to talk.
Welch agreed saying that “social media goes down a bad rabbit hole.”
Fire Chief Ty Johnson added that while in the perfect world press
releases would be shot out immediately, the fact is emergency
personnel and first responders are busy at the emergency, there is
no time until much later to get those press releases out to media
sources.
Continue reading about the meeting in
Coffee with Mayor Tracy Welch
Part Two
Balloons WILL BE present at Balloons Over 66 weekend
[Nila Smith]
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