A Prisoner’s Fight: The Pandemic As Seen From Inside the Illinois Department of Corrections

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Nicholas Chittick is serving 28 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections for the 1998 shooting death of a man during a drug deal gone bad. The pandemic struck during his 22nd year of incarceration. As with virtually all Americans, 2020 was the worst year of his life.

Battling multiple health issues at age 51, he and his fellow prisoners endured over a year of hellish prison quarantine conditions. He contracted COVID-19, had his parole denied by the Prisoner Review Board and suffered the loss of his mother all while embroiled in bitter litigation against Wexford Health Sources, Inc., the IDOC’s health care contractor, a case in which he represented himself.

During quarantine he studied to earn his certification as a paralegal while simultaneously working with social workers, correctional staff, and fellow prisoners to create LEVEL UP: Better Than Before, a peer mentoring program aimed at reducing recidivism.

It is a story of intense struggle, immeasurable loss, and how friendship, family, and faith can sustain perseverance in the face of insurmountable odds.