Dan Rutherford

PONTIAC -- A request for a temporary restraining order will be heard Wednesday as Pontiac prison workers prepare to move 100 inmates within the next two weeks.

Anders Lindall, spokesman for the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the hearing was scheduled for 1 p.m. It was unclear in which court the request would be heard, although Lindall earlier said the request would be made in Livingston County.

The union was notified Friday by the Illinois Department of Corrections that it planned to move 50 inmates in the medium-security unit to a minimum-security prison in East Moline. Fifty more inmates are set to be transferred from the medium-security unit to another minimum-security facility in Taylorville next week.

“It looks like the beginning of a closure plan,” Lindall said. “To do this is a sneaky, suspicious way ... we are going to be taking additional legal action.”

Inmate transfers are not unusual within IDOC, but Lindall said they are not usually done in this large of a volume.

IDOC spokesman Derek Schnapp said that the department is unable to comment on the specifics of transfers.

“It is not uncommon for inmates to be moved,” Schnapp said. “We will continue to move inmates when necessary and place them at an appropriate security level.

“We never disclose when and where inmates are being moved because of security reasons,” he said. “But once again, we will continue to move inmates as we deem necessary.”

Schnapp said that it is still the plan of IDOC to close Pontiac Correctional Center by early 2009, and said that now is the time to apply for Thomson positions as the employee screening process will begin shortly.

Lindall said AFSCME is talking to lawyers to see if the union can file some sort of temporary restraining order to stop the transfers. Lindall said any motion would be filed in Livingston County, and the union expects “to go into court very quickly.”

Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced in May that he plans to close the Pontiac prison and would transfer half of the inmates to a mostly unused facility in Thomson by February. The other half of the inmates would be transferred to various facilities in Illinois. The closure would save up to $4 million a year, but a study showed the local economy would suffer a $54 million loss.

A lawsuit filed in Livingston County Circuit Court in September claimed the closing would be illegal because money already had been budgeted for the 2008-2009 fiscal year. That budget was approved by the General Assembly and signed into law by Blagojevich.

A motion to dismiss the lawsuit claims IDOC can choose not to spend the money in a particular way.

Last month, a state study group recommended against the closure. The group’s role, however, is only advisory.

The development and hosting 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.