http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-stateville-pontiac_06may06,0,1066198.story

Stateville gets new lease on life as Pontiac prison is put on chopping block

Department of Corrections wants to transfer 1,600 inmates to newer facility

5/5/2008

Chicago Tribune

Joel Hood

The Illinois Department of Corrections has backed off closing a wing of Stateville prison north of Joliet and now wants to shut Pontiac Correctional Center and transfer its 1,600 inmates to a facility near the Iowa border.

The DOC director presented the plan in a letter to state Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi (D-Joliet), one of the chief opponents of the recent proposal to close the maximum-security wing of 83-year-old Stateville prison.

"The nature of the population at the Pontiac facility—segregation, mental health and protective custody—calls for us to single-cell the majority of the inmates," wrote Roger Walker, DOC director. "Transferring this specialized inmate population from Pontiac to the Thomson [Correctional Center] facility will allow us to continue single-celling these inmates at the same time we move to a more efficient facility and away from an older, less efficient one."

The state completed the $140 million Thomson facility in 2001 to ease overcrowding and safety concerns at antiquated prisons such as Pontiac, built in 1871, and Stateville, which has the last roundhouse-style cellblock in the country, said Walker's executive assistant, Sergio Molina. Thomson's minimum-security wing has housed prisoners for years, but its maximum-security cells sat vacant while the state sought to close an outdated facility, Molina said.

After losing three battles to close prisons in 2004, including Pontiac, Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced in February he intended to close a wing of Stateville to save an estimated $30 million in next year's budget, a cost that critics disputed. The closing would have forced the loss or transfer of more than 400 jobs and dealt an economic blow to Will County, critics said.

On Monday, lawmakers who had fought to keep Stateville open said at a news conference in Lockport that the governor had backed off those plans. The bipartisan team of legislators, including Wilhelmi and state Sens. Debbie Halvorson (D- Crete) and Christine Radogno (R-Lemont), also called for an independent review of the DOC before another prison is put on the chopping block.

"We need a moratorium on prison closures," Radogno said. Prisons are a "core public safety function, and we need a comprehensive review of the whole system."

Radogno said she would like to see a team of legislators work with prison experts to critically review DOC procedures for a more thorough understanding of prison conditions, how money is spent, where and how inmates are kept, and whether the state should be closing facilities or building new ones.

"We need more oversight of the decisions made by the Department of Corrections," Radogno said.

Molina said the department regularly meets with legislators to go over policy and planning decisions.

"We've never tried to hide anything we do," Molina said.

Some lawmakers suggested the reversal on Stateville was Wilhelmi's reward for not supporting legislation aimed at giving voters a chance to recall the governor. In response, Wilhelmi said: "I've said unequivocally, there is no connection. I read up on the recall and what I concluded was going on was political gamesmanship and silliness."

The recall measure was defeated Thursday. Radogno said after the news conference: "I can only take [Wilhelmi] at his word. It's the timing of the issues that has people asking these questions. The problem is, it looks to the public like a very thinly veiled quid pro quo. You protect the governor and you get what you want."

The administration did not respond to phone calls and e-mails Monday asking for clarification on the change of heart. Walker's letter said closing Pontiac would better meet the state's goals.

In Pontiac, a town of about 12,000 in Livingston County, local officials spent part of Monday talking with their representatives and formulating a plan to save the prison, which employs more than 500 people.

At a hearing in February, Wilhelmi spoke in defense of Stateville by suggesting it made more sense to close Pontiac, which functions purely as a prison. Stateville, the closest facility to Chicago and its suburbs, has a $90 million prisoner-processing center that opened four years ago. It's estimated that nearly three-quarters of the inmates in Illinois prisons come from the Chicago area.

"If they were to close the prison, it would be absolutely devastating to Pontiac and all of central Illinois," Pontiac Mayor Scott McCoy said. "We've got to get together and fight this thing. We're going to fight it tooth and nail."

Molina estimated the state would save about $4 million next year if it implemented the first phase of shutting down Pontiac. He said that saving is reflected in the lower annual operating costs of a more efficient, modern prison such as Thomson.

Molina said the state is equally concerned about how Pontiac's closing might affect the community. But, he said, considering the age and poor condition of its oldest prisons, the state has to be prepared to make tough decisions.