McLean County has unveiled two new public art pieces — but the pair of original murals are located where most in Bloomington-Normal will never go.
The McLean County Juvenile Detention Center [MCJDC] commissioned Champaign artist Leslie Kimble to paint the two murals in the common areas of the facility. The project was made possible by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council.
Program Coordinator Brianna Nelson said the initiative started last October.
“We had [Kimble] come in and kind of brainstorm with the kids and do an art group,” Nelson said.
Nelson said Kimble asked the youths to pick colors, images and words they’d like to see on the walls every day.
Viewable from each of the facility’s tentacle-like dorms, on a half-wall extending the full width of the common room, is a galaxy-themed piece, with stars and puffy cumulus clouds in various pinks, purples and yellow.
In a graffiti-style text painted beneath corrections officers’ control room is a single phrase: Believe in yourself.
“Even the youth were like, ‘I’m gonna stare at that every day.' Like, ‘That’s so awesome,’” Nelson said. “The color brings a lot to this area. I just feel like it makes a difference.”
The McLean County Juvenile Detention Center was built in 1993. The model for juvenile detention has changed since then, so staff are working to retrofit an old building to a fresh approach.
“The goal of juvenile detention is rehabilitation,” said Chief Judge Casey Costigan, who presides over the juvenile delinquency docket for McLean County. “It’s different than the adult system.”
The 26-bed facility currently houses youths between the ages of 10 and 21, primarily for short stays in the faster-moving juvenile court system. That’s changing next week after a shift in the state statute will now prohibit juvenile detention for anyone under age 12.
As of July 1, justice-involved youths under 12 who ordinarily might be detained will instead be diverted to a group home or other alternative. Nelson said MCJDC has had just one 11-year-old in the past five years.
Serving the whole state
The facility serves all counties in the 11th Judicial Circuit: McLean, Woodford, Ford, Livingston and Logan.
“And we pretty much help out anyone else in the state if they need bed space,” said Mandy Owens, the Juvenile Detention Center’s assistant superintendent.
Owens said it’s very common to have youth from Tazewell, DeWitt and Macon counties. The McLean County Board recently approved an agreement to hold one bed at the Juvenile Detention Center for Macon County.
And the need for such out-of-country agreements is ticking upward. Owens characterized it as "dire."
Two juvenile detention centers have closed in the past few years. Franklin County’s facility closed abruptly in late 2024. A 2022 audit by the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice had called the center in rural Benton a “facility in crisis,” with severe staffing shortages “directly impact[ing] conditions of confinement for youth that are well-below minimum standards.”
The facility was found to be non-complaint in 12 areas, including access to daily showers, food services, discipline, visitation and access to state-mandated education by licensed school teachers.
The Mary Davis Home in Galesburg was ordered closed beginning March 21 by the chief judge of the 9th Judicial Circuit. Tri States Public Radio reported the decision came as the facility was in the middle of a federal class action lawsuit alleging it was using solitary confinement.
Just 13 facilities remain open statewide. And McLean County’s is effectively the furthest south.
“It’s like us—and the rest of the state,” Owens said. “You’ve got some over by St. Louis, and you have Vermillion County, which would be your Danville area… but those traditionally just hold their own.”
Part of the issue is squaring the money it takes to operate a facility [well] compared to how many beds a county will actually fill.
Small, rural counties, Owens said, don’t have many instances when they’d need to detain a juvenile. When they do, McLean County tries to help, which can be a financial benefit for them—but it’s not without challenges.
“The parents have a harder time getting here. We have a harder time tracking down medical information,” Owens said. “Say we have a child who is from that southern part of the state, which is maybe three hours away, and they have a doctor’s appointment. We’re trying to get them with our services, doctors here are like, this isn’t our kid—there’s some loopholes with it but we try to help out when we can.”
Beyond simply staffing the facility, there are state-mandated programs and services that reflect a less punitive approach to juvenile detention. MCJDC has partnerships with Project Oz, YWCA Stepping Stones and Illinois State University, which provides volunteers to do all sorts of programming.
“…music therapy group. We have a physics class that comes and does a lesson plan with the youth. We have ISU nursing students that come and do group with the kids,” Nelson said. “We have our McLean County Health Department that comes in and does nutrition, vaping, drug education, those types of things, STD education. We’ve had the Normal Fire Department come out and talk about fire safety…”
And the list goes on.
“We are definitely very program heavy, on top of their mandatory schooling they have here too,” Nelson said.
Owens said ISU provides a “robust” volunteer pool, “something a lot of facilities struggle with."
“We’re turning away volunteers, because we’re in the hundreds for students on a semester coming in,” she said.
It’s a lot of background checks, she said, but the kids enjoy the steady stream of people anxious to support them. And the facility is currently hiring for a full-time licensed mental health professional.
To be clear, the Juvenile Detention Center still feels like a jail. It’s sterile. Every door is locked and requires permission to enter. The floors and walls of the gymnasium are concrete and cinderblock.
But the facility gets fairly good natural light. They have a little garden in a sunny outdoor atrium. And a second new mural, which all the youths see in a hallway on their way to that gym every day, is one more small way to bring a little color into their lives.
Beneath the phrase “Aspire to change” is a vibrant butterfly. In the foreground, two hands join at the thumbs and fingertips to form a heart shape.
“It’s important to remember, these are kids out here,” said Costigan.
Costigan said that’s something to consider when thinking about a return on investment to making improvements to the facility.
“Any little thing—we don’t know what’s going to spark a kid. They’re at the lowest, hardest point in their life. Maybe just to see some colors, to see something bright and happy, that might get them through the day.”
