More Than 70 Fires Have Been Reported at Joliet Treatment Center Since 2023, Including the Blaze That Killed Jason Stephens
More than 70 fires have broken out over the past three years at an Illinois prison created to provide intensive mental health treatment, including about a dozen cases in which incarcerated men set their own bodies on fire.
One man required skin-graft surgery. Another lost a leg. Two men died.
The findings come from an extensive investigation by The Marshall Project and the Chicago Sun-Times. Reporters reviewed government records, prison investigations, medical documents, fire inspection reports and surveillance footage while also interviewing incarcerated men, prison employees, attorneys and medical experts.
The investigation found that officials at the Joliet Treatment Center repeatedly failed to prevent fires or respond adequately after they began.
Cellblocks lacked working sprinklers, fire alarms were disconnected or inoperable, and prison officials could not provide inspectors with a written evacuation plan. Firefighters also reported repeated delays getting ambulances into and out of the prison.
The facility housed about 200 men but recorded an average of roughly three fires per month during 2025, according to the investigation.
Prison Was Created to Provide Mental Health Treatment
The Joliet Treatment Center opened in 2017 as part of an effort to improve mental health treatment inside the Illinois prison system.
The facility initially offered incarcerated men regular therapy, psychiatric services and structured activities outside their cells. A court-appointed monitor reported that men received about 15 hours of therapeutic programming each week during the prison’s first two years.
Those conditions reportedly began to deteriorate around 2020.
Incarcerated men and civil rights attorneys said therapy sessions and recreation were frequently canceled while prisoners spent increasingly long periods isolated inside their cells. Several men described inadequate medical care, excessive use of pepper spray and growing feelings of hopelessness.
Seven men interviewed or contacted by The Marshall Project said they set fires because written complaints and requests for help were ignored.
“We try to talk and write to them, but they don’t respect that,” one incarcerated man told the news organization. “But when we act like animals and set things on fire and ourselves on fire, they listen.”
Craig Haney, a University of California, Santa Cruz professor who studies prison mental health, said the repeated fires reflected severe desperation.
Also Read: Bexar County Has Spent Millions Moving Inmates While 91 People Have Died Since 2020
“These are the kinds of desperate acts that somebody takes when they feel they have no alternative,” Haney said.
Jason Stephens Left Inside Smoke-Filled Cell
One of the investigation’s most troubling cases involved 38-year-old Jason Stephens.
Stephens had sickle cell disease and had been diagnosed with major depressive disorder with psychotic features and post-traumatic stress disorder. Medical records reviewed by The Marshall Project showed that he repeatedly complained of severe pain and inadequate medical treatment while incarcerated.
He was transferred to the Joliet Treatment Center in May 2024, apparently to receive additional mental health care.
On July 27, 2024, Stephens set a fire inside his cell.
Surveillance footage showed smoke pouring from the cell as correctional officers gathered nearby. About 10 minutes after smoke appeared, officers sprayed a fire extinguisher and pepper spray through the food slot in Stephens’ locked door.
They then walked away without removing him.
When Joliet firefighters arrived, prison employees initially told them the fire had been extinguished and that assistance was needed to clear the smoke. According to a fire department incident report, employees did not immediately tell firefighters that Stephens remained locked inside.
Stephens spent approximately 30 minutes in the smoke-filled cell before firefighters found him unconscious on the floor.
His airway was charred.
Ambulance Delayed at Prison Gate
After Stephens was placed inside an ambulance, another delay occurred. Prison guards refused to open the facility’s exit gate while they waited for paperwork to be completed and for an officer to accompany Stephens to the hospital.
The ambulance remained at the gate for nearly 28 minutes, according to dispatch recordings and prison records reviewed by the news organizations. A firefighter repeatedly contacted dispatch to report that the ambulance was trapped while Stephens was receiving mechanical assistance to breathe.
According to one correctional officer’s account, a firefighter told prison employees, “This man can die while y’all pussyfooting around.”
Stephens was eventually transported to a hospital and later transferred to a Chicago-area medical center. Doctors performed a tracheotomy, but he died two weeks later.
The medical examiner determined that Stephens died from complications of inhalation injuries caused by a mattress fire.
Fire Safety Problems Documented Before Death
The investigation found that prison administrators had been warned about fire-safety failures before Stephens died.
An electrician told prison investigators that Stephens’ housing wing did not have working fire alarms or sprinklers. According to the electrician, the only fire-safety plan was for correctional officers to remain alert and watch for fires.
The Illinois State Fire Marshal’s Office documented disconnected or inoperable alarms during a 2023 inspection. Inspectors also reported that prison employees could not provide a written evacuation plan.
Similar problems were noted again days before the fire in Stephens’ cell.
The state fire marshal’s office says Illinois’ Life Safety Code establishes minimum fire-safety standards for buildings across the state, including requirements involving alarms, evacuation procedures and other protections.
Joliet Fire Chief Jeff Carey said his department had repeatedly contacted prison administrators about delays at the entrance and exit gates before Stephens’ death, but the problems continued.
Second Man Died After November Fire
The fires continued after Stephens died.
In November 2024, officers saw flames coming from beneath the cell door of Latrell Edwards. Other men on the wing were reportedly evacuated before officers opened Edwards’ door.
Edwards was hospitalized with breathing difficulties and soot in his throat. He died two months later.
The Marshall Project reported that more than 60 fires occurred after Stephens’ death, including at least eight additional cases involving men setting themselves on fire.
Illinois Prison Agency Declines Detailed Response
The Illinois Department of Corrections did not answer the news organizations’ detailed questions about the number of fires, fire preparedness or Stephens’ medical complaints.
An agency spokesperson instead issued a statement saying the department was “committed to ensuring the safety and security of staff, individuals in custody, and all persons who enter our facilities.”
The department said it takes its responsibility to follow facility-safety requirements seriously. IDOC’s written medical-emergency policy states that employees should begin lifesaving first aid and continue until medical personnel or emergency responders take over. It also requires emergency-response drills and evaluations of response times and staff decisions.
The department cited pending litigation when declining to discuss Stephens’ case. The Marshall Project has sued the agency seeking complete investigative records involving his death and other prison fires.
Lawmakers Call for Immediate Reforms
Illinois lawmakers and civil rights advocates called for reforms following publication of the investigation.
Republican state Sen. Terri Bryant, who previously worked in corrections, said both incarcerated people and prison employees remained at risk.
“The highest levels of administration are so incompetent, and it’s just a shame,” Bryant said. “People’s lives are in jeopardy.”
Democratic state Sen. Robert Peters called on prison administrators to install adequate fire-safety equipment, establish an effective evacuation plan and ensure that emergency responses are not delayed.
“People’s lives are on the line,” Peters said.
Democratic state Sen. Rachel Ventura said a facility created to provide treatment and hope should not be facing such findings.
Kamil Krzaczynski/AFP via Getty Images
Gov. JB Pritzker declined to comment directly on the investigation and referred questions to the Department of Corrections.
For Patrice Daniels, who was among the first men transferred to the Joliet Treatment Center, the prison no longer resembles the treatment-focused facility he once believed it could become.
Daniels eventually requested a transfer to another prison. As he was driven away in shackles, he said he looked at the Joliet Treatment Center sign and thought, “That’s a sham. Treatment doesn’t happen there.”
