Welcome to my new homepage!
I am happy you have chosen to learn more about government and our legislative office. Our homepage includes various links that offer useful information, hotline phone numbers for state services and background on our legislative and political efforts.

I am pleased to provide you with information on this changing channel of communication. Tax dollars were not used to bring you this web site. I hope the information contained here is helpful. Government should be an interactive process and I encourage your input. Please feel free to contact me with any  questions or concerns you may have.
 


Dan Rutherford
State Senator

 

 

 

Pontiac Correctional Center

 

(picture by the Pontiac Daily Leader)     

 

The Blagojevich Administration has called for the closure of the Pontiac Correctional Center. In an attempt to keep the public current on happenings on the matter, Senator Rutherford has created this internet log of information.

 

Please check back. Updated information will be posted frequently.

 

 

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Action Alert!

 

As events unfold in the effort to keep Pontiac Correctional Center open there will be chances for the public to participate. We will be posting these opportunities as they arise. Keep an eye out for our red Action Alert headline.

 

 

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Action Alert! - Write the Governor

 

Please take the time to write a letter to the Governor expressing your disapproval of the plan to close Pontiac Correctional Center.

 

 

Governor Rod Blagojevich

James R. Thompson Center
100 W. Randolph Street, Ste. 16-100
Chicago, IL 60601

 

 

 

Please send us a copy of the letter you submit. Letters can be mailed to:

 

Senator Dan Rutherford

320 N. Plum St.

Pontiac, IL 61764

 

Below are some bullet points that may help you in writing your letter:

 

  • Be polite

  • Include a personal story about the impact the closing would have

  • Tell how this would affect the working families of Illinois

  • Discuss the overall economic impact the closing would have on the community

  • Handwrite a personal letter. They are much more effective than a form letter.

 

 

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Media Reports

 

Check here for news stories from around Illinois regarding the closure of PCC. Fresh articles will be posted regularly.

 

 

 

Blagojevich flip-flops on decision to close prisons

 

Bloomington Pantagraph

Kurt Erickson


SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s decision to close a state prison is a reversal of what his own prison experts said just a year ago.

In May 2007, an Illinois Department of Corrections spokesman said top brass at the agency had no plans to close any state prisons.

But in February, a plan to close a portion of Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet emerged following the unveiling of Blagojevich’s proposed budget.

On Friday, Corrections chief Roger Walker said in a letter the agency was abandoning plans to close Stateville and instead focusing on closing the 1,650-inmate Pontiac Correctional Center.

That stands in contrast to what Walker spokesman Derek Schnapp said in an e-mail exchange last year.

Asked whether the department believes there is a need to close additional prisons, Schnapp answered succinctly.

“No,” Schnapp wrote on May 23, 2007.

The proposal to shutter the 137-year-old prison in Pontiac marks the second time since 2004 that Blagojevich has targeted the maximum-security lockup for closure. At stake are more than 550 employees and an economic benefit to Livingston County of nearly $40 million.

In his letter, Walker said moving the inmate population from Pontiac to the state’s unused prison in Thomson makes more sense than closing Stateville.

On Tuesday, Schnapp was asked what had triggered the agency’s change of direction. He did not directly address the question.

Rather, Schnapp said the agency has made opening Thomson a priority. It was completed in 2001 but never opened because of budget problems.

“Our goal is to open Thomson Correction (sic) Center,” Schnapp noted. “Thomson will allow us to single cell the inmate population at Pontiac, which is mostly segregation and protective custody.”

The agency wants to close Pontiac by January. Lawmakers have vowed to block the move.

A public hearing on the proposal could come as early as July 3.

State Rep. Keith Sommer, R-Morton, said the latest announcement of Pontiac’s proposed demise comes just weeks after the prison was visited by top Corrections administrators and representatives of the governor’s office.

After that meeting, Sommer said, the department said there wasn’t any reason to be concerned about Pontiac being closed.

“They said, ‘Don’t worry about it,”’ Sommer said.

State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, and Sommer, both of whom represent the Pontiac area, want a moratorium on prison closings so a process can be worked out in which there is a defined approach to major prison changes within the department.

“These communities are being whipsawed,” Rutherford said, pointing to the on-again, off-again opening and closing talk affecting Pontiac, Thomson and Stateville.

 

May 9, 2008

 

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Tentative schedule for  PCC hearings

 

The above document was released by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. It is the tentative time frame for the implementation of Closure Act proceedings.

 

 

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Official notice to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability

 

The Official Notice on closing PCC was given by the Blagojevich Administration to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.

 

May 6, 2008

 

 

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The State Facilities Closure Act text

 

The State Facilities Closure Act outlines the guidelines that must be followed in order to close a state facility such as PCC.

 

 

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Written notification of the intent to close PCC

(pdf courtesy of The Capitol Fax Blog: http://thecapitolfaxblog.com/ )

 

This letter was sent from Roger Walker, the Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, to State Senator Arthur J. Wilhelmi. Stateville Correctional Facility is located in Sen. Wilhelmi's District.

 

The letter states the plan to close PCC and keep the Stateville Roundhouse open.

 

May 2, 2008

 

 

Senator Dan Rutherford’s website for Legislative and Public Policy matters is:
http://www.DanRutherford.com

 

Senator Dan Rutherford’s website for political matters is:
http://www.DanRutherford.org

Senator Rutherford is the Chairman of the Committee for Legislative Action. Its primary purpose is to bring sunlight to attempts to raise Taxes, Fees and increase Government Regulations in Illinois. Their website is:
http://www.CommitteeForLegislativeAction.org

 


District Office
320 N. Plum Street
Pontiac, IL 61764
(815) 842-3632
(815) 842-2875 Fax

Springfield Office
105B Capitol Building
Springfield, IL 62706
(217) 782-6597
(217) 782-0116 Fax

The development, hosting and maintenance of Senator Rutherford's web site are not paid for with taxpayer dollars. The phone line and internet service for Senator Rutherford's e-mails are also not paid for at taxpayer expense.