When Illinois shuttered the century-old maximum security facility last year, nearly four of every five inmates went to less-secure sites.

Out of roughly 400 inmates transferred when Illinois' decrepit Stateville prison closed over the summer, 278 were convicted of murder. Another hundred are serving time for other violent offenses. Yet data shows that nearly four in five of the offenders formerly housed at the suburban Chicago lockup were sent to mid-level medium-security facilities.