James Allen is serving three life sentences for murder. No one ever said he killed anyone.
Tag: Tamms
Posted inBlogs
Why the nationwide strike against ‘modern-day slavery’ may not reach Illinois. And why it’s already here.
IDOC’s job opportunities are so few and repression of organizing so intense that few inmates may be joining the nationwide labor strike. That doesn’t mean they’re not resisting.
Posted inNews & Politics
Hundreds of Illinois prisoners languish behind bars waiting for Dorothy Brown to do her job
The court clerk lost the records of James Allen, who’s fighting to overturn convictions that put him in prison 30 years ago. His case is not unique.
Posted inBlogs
Life inside a supermax prison
Tamms Correctional Center was Illinois’s only supermax prison. The Reader may have played a part in shutting it down.
Posted inBlogs
Letter from Tamms
“Today a guy tried to kill himself,” an inmate of Tamms, the Illinois supermax prison, told me in a letter, dated April 25, that I received Saturday. “Supposedly he almost accomplished his mission. He tied a plastic bag over his head. Prison is a rough spot, and Tamms is especially rough. I don’t know if […]
Posted inBlogs
When death row and dog cages are a step up in the world
In Pontiac, former Tamms inmates are experiencing a new luxury: they can see the person they’re talking with.
Posted inBlogs
Friday night: take pictures for Tamms inmates
An art project for inmates in Illinois’s only supermax prison coincides with a new exhibition at the School of the Art Institute
Posted inBlogs
Should Tamms be saved for the jobs?
Sure, long-term solitary confinement may be torture, but it provides jobs.
Posted inBlogs
The land of lockups
Illinois keeps incarcerating more nonviolent offenders—and it’s costing you money
Posted inNews & Politics
Alan Mills, legal director, Uptown People’s Law Center
This week’s Chicagoan: Alan Mills, legal director, Uptown People’s Law Center
Posted inBlogs
Setback for a Troubled Supermax
A district court decision represents a challenge to Tamms Correctional Center
Posted inBlogs
Tamms reforms on the way?
State representative Julie Hamos is pushing for reforms at the Tamms supermax prison.