Inside Illinois Civil Commitment Treatment Behind Razor Wire: A report of key findings from a 2019 survey of the residents at Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility, Illinois

By The Civil Commitment Working Group

This report is a summary of the responses that people incarcerated at Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility shared in a 2019 survey. It highlights the concerns, safety risks, and abuses that people who are locked up in Rushville shared with us and connects these self-reports with supporting data collected by professionals who study civil commitment. Rushville residents were clear about the following: 1. Civil commitment at Rushville Treatment and Detention Facility is punishment, not treatment. 2. Civil commitment at Rushville disproportionately harms people from marginalized groups, particularly LGBTQ+, Black, multiracial, and Indigenous people. 3. Rushville is a violent place with poor living conditions. 4. Civil commitment at Rushville is a life sentence. Our Recommendations United by our opposition to sexual violence and our commitment to building a world where no one experiences sexual harm, we do not believe it is possible to build that world so long as civil commitment continues to exist. We know that ending sexual harm and closing Rushville will not happen overnight. To that end, we have provided both immediate and long-term proposals directly informed by feedback from people detained at Rushville. End civil commitment • Reallocate resources that are earmarked for expanding Rushville’s capacity or bolstering its punitive and surveilling practices. • Make Rushville voluntary. Fewer people in • Provide education about civil commitment for people serving criminal sentences. • Eliminate the STATIC 99R. • Invest in voluntary, community-based treatment options. More people out • Release people at higher rates. • Create transparent and accessible pathways for accessing conditional release. • Instate therapist-patient confidentiality.

• Invest in voluntary community-based treatment options. Help those inside now • Allow external monitors to survey the facility. • Expand access to the outside world. • Reallocate resources to offer more one-on-one, confidential therapy. What people on the outside can do right now • Send in care packages of food, gender-affirming products, toiletries, and other necessities. • Educate yourself and others about civil commitment. • Challenge stigma surrounding people who have caused sexual harm. • Support or launch transformative justice initiatives in your community.      

Chicago; Rushville, Civil Commitment Working Group Illinois, 2022. 2022. 32p.