Heidi Demes, a Clinical Nurse and Union Steward at the Sheridan Correctional Facility, doesn’t like confrontation. So it was somewhat out of character for her to pen an 800-word email response to the facility’s warden illuminating the harm caused by Sheridan’s chronic understaffing. She knew in that moment, however, that she had to defend her coworkers—twelve nurses who had recently united in a month-long action to show Management what happens when their employees stop covering up for their failings.

“That strength didn’t just come from in me. I knew it wasn’t just me I was speaking for—I was speaking for all of us,” Heidi said. “There’s no way I could do it by myself, because there’s an air of unspoken intimidation by Management. They say it without saying it, but you feel it.”

The Sheridan Correctional Facility is a medium security prison that for years held people incarcerated for mostly low-level drug offenses—a patient population that was relatively young and healthy. When larger prison facilities like Pontiac and Stateville Correctional Centers closed sections in recent years, inmates who had previously served longer sentences elsewhere were diverted to Sheridan. Almost overnight, the patient population became older, sicker, and more likely to be experiencing chronic conditions.

This population had drastically different medical needs, but no meaningful changes were made to health care staffing. Nurses repeatedly asked for extra help, and were told that the Department of Central Management Services (CMS) would need to do a “staffing analysis” before providing additional staff. Three years went by with no word, no staffing analysis, and no support.

“We all just want health care to run efficiently and have these guys get the health care they deserve and that they need,” Heidi said.

Nurses worked overtime, literally, to make that happen. They filled in scheduling gaps, taking on multiple overtime shifts per pay period and covering “known holes” in staffing (when management knows ahead of time that there aren’t enough nurses staffed for a particular shift). They worked through breaks and lunches, skipped vacations, and took on extra duties to keep the facility functioning. In March alone, Sheridan had 24 uncovered shifts. The problem was so bad that a nurse recently found herself alone on an overnight shift—the only healthcare worker available for 1,200 individuals in custody.

Finally, enough was enough. Sheridan nurses banded together and asked themselves, what if they didn’t fill those gaps? What if they didn’t cover up for the negligent staffing? Together, they decided for the month of March, they would do just that—and make the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) feel the extent of the problems they created.

“For the month of March, we want you to see what happens when we don’t bear the weight and responsibility of correcting the problem,” Heidi said. “When we put the weight back on management where it belongs.”

Despite years of not responding to reasonable staffing requests, Management reached out immediately to accuse Heidi of not performing her job. But Heidi knew her coworkers had done nothing wrong and had not acted outside the contract, which allows for nurses to refuse “known hole mandates.” She stayed strong with the support of her coworkers. Heidi penned the response that she sent on March 13, outlining the existing staffing problems, her coworkers’ ongoing requests for additional staffing, and how nurses maintained care for their patients throughout the action.

Nurses at Sheridan drew their 30-day refusal of Voluntary Over Time to a close recently but are not slowing down their organizing. They plan to continue taking action after action and elevating this issue, even if they need to take it to Springfield.

The same day Heidi sent her email to management, she read the words aloud to her coworkers, who gathered around her in solidarity. As she finished the final words—”We are just trying to elevate our healthcare to the level of excellence that we know it could be”—the room erupted in cheers, high-fives, and even some tears.

“I’m very proud that the nurses at Sheridan all came together and agreed to stand by each other and support each other,” Heidi said. “We’re finding strength in each other we didn’t know we had.”