Southern Illinois State Senator Terri Bryant has stirred up a hornets’ nest by asking Department of Corrections employees to let her know the names of imprisoned illegal aliens.
Of course, incarceration illegal aliens would be at the head of the line for deportation unless officials think punishment in an Illinois prison is more appropriate than freedom wherever they would be sent.
I have another suggestion, based on my contacts with prison inmates in my efforts to stop prison rape in the 1990’s:
Write letters to the editor of papers near prisons asking inmates to identify illegal aliens.
I did the same seeking contact from prisoners who had been raped and it worked.
Writing to a state legislator, a prisoner can write “legal mail” on the envelope and DOC employees cannot legally open the letter.
The Tribune found the ACLU and got this reaction:
“Edwin Yohnka, director of communications and public policy for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said Bryant was clearly trying to encourage IDOC employees to circumvent the Trust Act.”
