According to records Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority provided in response to Illinois Answers’ public-records request, at least 30 people died by suicide in Illinois jails between 2019 and 2025.
Illinois Answers reviewed annual jail inspections from 2017 to 2025 and reached out to state agencies to learn more about how they’re compelling jails to meet standards. The investigation found that many jails across Illinois violated standards for poor sanitation, healthcare and food services, among other concerns.
Pritzker, the state’s top lawmakers and the heads of several state agencies were supposed to appoint members to the board no later than 90 days after the law went into effect. Until last week, only a single appointment had been made to the 17-seat task force.
In Winnebago County Jail, the state’s second-largest, incident reports show officers have fired at a single person inside a cell 24 times since 2019, directly hitting them in at least 13 of those incidents.
An Illinois Answers Project analysis revealed that 63 people who died in jails were missing from state data on in-custody fatalities. Now the state is auditing its records.
Jail staff are supposed to report any “extraordinary or unusual occurrences” to the Jail and Detention Standards Unit (JDSU) within the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). But jails have been haphazardly reporting for years, and some incidents were never disclosed to the JDSU.
The medical aid in dying law is facing court challenges, but the law still stands.
More than 120 years after his death, local historians finally feel confident of the burial spot for the first Black man to vote in Illinois.
The initial statewide public defender will serve a two-year term and receive a salary of $218,400 — equal to that of Attorney General Kwame Raoul.
Disability rights advocates worry about potential for coercion and want more state oversight.
Illinois is home to more than 240 data centers.
Most Illinois counties have a non-medical exemption rate under one percent. Six counties in northern and southern Illinois have a two percent exemption rate.
The governor signed 87 bills on Friday.
The report looks at dozens of indicators including high school graduation rates, standardized test scores, and chronic absences.
The Trump administration now has what amounts to a moratorium on new wind farm projects, according to renewable energy advocates.