[3] In 1988 the mayor and four city council members voted on whether to welcome a federal prison that was scheduled to open in the area.

[citation needed] On the morning of November 13, 2009, 36-year-old inmate Adam Montoya was found dead in his cell at FCI Pekin.

Montoya had arrived at FCI Pekin 18 days before to begin serving a 27-month sentence for check fraud.

[7] Tazewell County Coroner Dennis Conover and other experts concluded that Montoya likely exhibited blatant symptoms of hepatitis and cancer, most notably dramatic weight loss, a swollen abdomen and yellow eyes.

They said that those symptoms, as well as the severe pain Montoya complained of, should have prompted staff to transport the prisoner immediately to the hospital.

[7] Montoya's family filed a wrongful death and personal injury claim, which was denied by the Justice Department.