April 25, 2024
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Backlog alleviated: 10 La Salle County inmates transferred to prison

Alvarado and others moved midweek after lengthy delays

By Tom Collins

The census inside La Salle County Jail got a bit smaller. Wednesday, the Illinois Department of Corrections admitted 10 inmates who'd been sentenced to prison but who nonetheless languished weeks (months, in some cases) in county custody.

A former Streator man who killed a woman in a drug-related crash wasn’t available for his Thursday hearing on post-trial motions because the prison system finally took him, along with several others.

Miguel Alvarado, 44, was apprehended in Texas last month after three years on the lam. After pleading guilty to aggravated DUI in early 2018 he absconded and was sentenced in absentia to 14 years. He was to appear Thursday for post-trial motions but that was continued to June 9 after the Department of Corrections admitted him and nine others.

It was a welcome development in La Salle County Jail. The county had been after IDOC to alleviate a backlog of inmates sentenced to prison but who languished in jail.

As previously reported, jail superintendent Jason Edgcomb had called out the prison system earlier this month because roughly 20 of the county’s 175 inmates was supposed to have been transferred to state-run facilities.

“This is getting to be a problem as inmates become restless and start to have behavior issues knowing they are waiting to go to DOC,” he’d said. “Also, several of the inmates have severe medical issues costing the county a lot of money to continue to care for them.”

An IDOC spokeswoman said there were 55 intakes from La Salle County Jail since Aug. 3. Intakes were halted in December 2020 because of a COVID-19 outbreak at the jail.

The conflict appears to be resolved. Edgcomb said Thursday 10 inmates have been transferred to IDOC. While Alvarado and convicted robber Steven Willett still don’t show on IDOC’s website, updated records show Joshua Salters, sentenced to 4 years for dealing cocaine, housed in Stateville as of April 28.

When Alvarado comes back, he may try to plead his case for fresh sentencing if not a new trial. He entered a blind plea for the 2016 crash in rural Streator that killed 23-year-old Alexandria Stevenson of Ottawa — he was under the influence of an anti-anxiety drug at the time — but effectively forfeited his right to be present at sentencing.