For nearly 12 years, Brian Nelson has spent 23 hours a day in a small, concrete room. The 7-foot-by-13-foot cell is where he eats and sleeps. Communication with other inmates is limited.

"It's just complete idleness," he said. "It's nothing - 23 hours of nothing."

A convicted murderer and attempted escapee, Nelson has been an inmate at Tamms Correctional Center since it opened in 1998. Each of the facility's 246 adult male inmates spend at least 20 hours a day in solitary confinement and activities only come in the form of incentives for good behavior.

Facing public criticism in recent years of its treatment of inmates and its ability to care for mentally ill offenders, the so-called supermax prison has made new strides to improve its care and debunk any misrepresentations associated with the facility.

As part of an effort to become more transparent to the public, the prison had its first media tour since its opening on Thursday, giving a small group of the region's reporters a glimpse into the lives of the facility's inmates.

"What we're trying to do with activities like today is demonstrate to people what we do and how we do it," said Illinois Department of Corrections Director Michael Randle. "I think there are opportunities for us to improve what we do day-to-day at this facility, but I would be saying that for any number of our facilities."

‘10-point plan'

Tamms' closed-maximum security facility is the place where Illinois Department of Corrections inmates go when they cannot behave or safely live in the state's other prisons. They have assaulted or killed IDOC staff or inmates, attempted to escape confinement or are too mentally ill to be around other prisoners.

Since Randle became director in May, the prison staff has developed a ‘10-point plan' to improve care and opportunities for inmates, developing new services and efficiencies. Even some of the offenders agree that conditions have improved in the past two years.

"This place is appropriate for me because I can get proper help here," said Demetrious Papademetriou, another convicted murderer who killed his former cellmate. "They care about you and they want to help you."

The 10-point plan includes extra measures for evaluation of inmates coming to Tamms, and increased privileges based on positive behavior. In addition, GED testing and congregate religious services are or will be available to inmates.

Incentives

The offenders spend the majority of their time in their cells, receiving meals, reading various publications, and even watching television in many cases, but the incentives come in the form of activities outside the box.

Inmates are offered time in group activities, when they may watch videos or play games with other inmates from individual holding cells, up to five family visits per month, which progress through heavy glass walls and speaker boxes, and soon they may get phone calls, as a new phone system is being installed.

The only other times the offenders are out of their cells are the 60 to 90 minutes a day they get to spend in the yards, 12-foot-by-28-foot concrete exterior rooms with barred ceilings. The yards are the closest many of them get to being outside.

Warden Yolande Johnson believes the care the inmates receive is better than what most hospitals provide.

"I watch the staff on a daily basis make contact with the offenders," she said, "and I believe our staff are devoted to making sure that the offenders' needs, both in the mental health realm and in the medical realm, are addressed."

Mental health unit

The prison's mental health unit has been the target of the most criticism in recent years. The special treatment unit holds up to 12 seriously mentally ill inmates and provides psychological and psychiatric services in the same secure setting as the rest of the facility. Part of the 10-point plan is improving the offenders' access to mental health services, which staff members say already is better than adequate.

"It depends on how invested the inmate is in receiving services and how willing they are to work through those services," said Dr. Wendy Blank, director of the prison's mental health services. "But, I think that access to services is imperative, and anytime we can improve that is a good thing."

Randle said improving the prison's services is the main objective, but the fact that the facility is open has improved safety and conditions in all of Illinois' 27 prisons. Removing these violent offenders from the regular prison system, he said, has directly caused a decrease in the number of inmate-on-inmate assaults and inmate-on-staff assaults in Illinois.

"Because this prison is here, the 27 other prisons are a lot safer for staff and inmates," he said. "That is what drives our decisions in terms of placement and release of offenders from this facility."

thomas.barker@thesouthern.com

618-351-5805