Stuart Files Resolution Calling for Cemetery Access

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. — State Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, has filed a resolution calling on the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) to improve access for families with loved ones buried at the Lincoln Developmental Center Cemetery, which shares ground with Logan Correctional Center.

“Families need access to the places where their loved ones have been laid to rest so they can honor and celebrate their lives,” Stuart said. “When a cemetery is located on the site of a correctional facility, that is absolutely a situation that needs to be navigated carefully to ensure safety and accountability, but it shouldn’t be the case that the cemetery is effectively off-limits to the families of those interred there.”

The cemetery was associated with a state facility for the developmentally disabled which operated from 1877 until 2002 under several names. The cemetery is the final resting place for some residents whose families were not able to privately bury their loved ones for a myriad of reasons.

IDOC opened the Logan Correctional Center in two stages occurring in 1978 and 1984. When the Lincoln Center closed in 2002, IDOC became responsible for the cemetery. Eventually the prison expanded to the point where security concerns meant that it was difficult or even impossible for visitors to access the cemetery. IDOC has never created a procedure for cemetery access, forcing family and friends of those interred there to wrangle with prison officials, none of whom was primarily responsible for the cemetery, for clearance to visit gravesites.

Stuart’s House Resolution 907 calls on IDOC to develop a standard policy and set of guidelines that are available so that family members and researchers can easily access the site and for IDOC to consider access to the site when future renovations or improvements to the Logan Correctional Center take place.

“Prison security and public safety are important, but so is the ability of Illinois families to visit the resting places of their loved ones,” Stuart said. “It’s time for members of the public to have reasonable access to Lincoln Developmental Center Cemetery without undue hassle or runaround.”