On the northeast corner of the 25-acre site sits the old Lincoln State School Cemetery, a burial ground for former residents of the nearby Lincoln Developmental Center (LDC), which closed in 2002. The disbanded facility was a residential state school for people with developmental disabilities.

The large gravesite contains the remains of approximately 2,130 LDC residents who passed while in state custody over the institution’s 125-year history.

A House resolution sponsored by state Rep. Katie Stuart, D-Edwardsville, asks the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) to develop guidelines for visiting a cemetery located on the grounds of the center.

The IDOC inherited responsibility for the cemetery after former Gov. George Ryan ordered the LDC’s closure following decades of reported abus

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