Still more work needed at youth prison

OK, this is a start.

But barely.

As reported by Daily Herald Senior State Government Editor John Patterson Tuesday, the state has spent $71,699 to replace bunk beds at the St. Charles youth prison. The original beds, as described in a John Howard Association of Illinois report last month, were dangerous because they could be used to attempt suicide.

In fact, a 16-year-old hanged himself from one of the double bunks in September, and the state document justifying the emergency purchase refers to that tragedy.

"The suicide was facilitated by the youth using the current style of bed, which is a double bunk," the document states. "This double bunk places the facility in a liable situation and the replacement of the bunk with the proposed single bed will provide the facility with a safer environment for the youths under its care."

So, the emergency purchase of new beds should help address this "physical deficiency," to use a state justice official's term. But several observations remain to be stated.

For one, many other "physical deficiencies" at the juvenile prison still must be addressed. The John Howard Association report - re-emphasizing concerns it expressed in a similar document two years ago - cited "appalling" conditions at the St. Charles facility, including abandoned and "crumbling" buildings that have not been maintained for years, staffing shortages, building designs that prevent staff members from being able to properly observe inmates in their quarters, a facility practice of covering deteriorated walls with metal sheets that can be easily removed and dangerous, deteriorating windows that allow for potentially easy escape.

Prison officials have been shockingly silent on conditions at the youth jail, so it's hard to tell what their plans are for addressing these shortcomings, but the problems clearly must still be addressed.

And, the comparatively small price tag for replacing the double bunk beds serves only to emphasize that it is not cost that is holding up the needed repairs. It is lack of initiative and attention.

In justifying the purchase of the beds, the state acknowledges it is "in a liable situation." That, in and of itself, is a stunning admission, but we are left to wonder whether it will take another death, another tragedy, for officials to recognize that other long-identified deficiencies at the prison also put the state "in a liable situation."

It is, of course, a good thing that officials have moved to replace the dangerous beds at the St. Charles youth prison. But we cannot let a $72,000 purchase stand as evidence of a commitment to act to clean up a looming disaster.

State and prison officials need still to describe a concerted plan of action to bring this facility up to standards of safety and decency that will not again prompt an admission of liability for the death of a child in the state's care.