http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/05/08/news/doc48239618a4ddc572147781.txt

Gov. says stopping prison closings would hurt efforts to save money

5/8/2008

Bloomington Pantagraph

Kurt Erickson

SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Rod Blagojevich on Thursday panned a plan aimed at stopping him from closing the state prison in Pontiac.

The governor, who announced earlier this week he wants to shutter the maximum-security lockup by February, said a proposal to place a moratorium on prison closings could hamstring his efforts to save money.

The proposal calls for a review by lawmakers of state prisons to determine whether any should be closed or altered.

“It doesn’t sound like it would be in the taxpayers’ best interest in the long run,” Blagojevich spokeswoman Rebecca Rausch said Thursday.

Rausch said allowing lawmakers to be involved in the process of managing the prison system could lead to higher costs.

“Relying on legislators, rather than agency experts, to make decisions that could be unpopular in their own communities or those of their friends in the Legislature could drastically impair cost savings and efficiency efforts,” Rausch said.

The call by lawmakers for a more studied approach to prison closings comes in the wake of efforts by Blagojevich to close four prisons in the past five years.

Blagojevich set his sights on Pontiac after taking heat from his fellow Democrats over his plan to close the maximum-security portion of the Stateville Correctional Center, Joliet. He wants to transfer Pontiac inmates to the unused prison in Thomson, north of the Quad Cities.

The 551 workers at Pontiac would be offered the opportunity to transfer to other prison jobs in the area.

The Illinois Department of Corrections says the proposal would save about $5 million annually, compared to the estimated $31 million that would have been saved if Stateville had been closed.

A bipartisan group of lawmakers is backing a plan that would create a review panel for the prison system to complete a report on the facilities by September 2009. In the interim, the governor would be barred from closing any facilities.

The report could indicate that the older prisons could be closed or converted into specialized facilities. For example, the state could dedicate one prison to the care of older prison inmates.

“We need to take an inventory of what the real needs are,” said state Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, who represents the Pontiac area.

Rutherford and other supporters of the proposal said they had hoped Blagojevich would embrace the idea.

“This is not meant to be confrontational,” Rutherford said.

“Governor, we would like you on board with this,” added state Rep. Shane Cultra, R-Onarga.

Opponents of the governor’s move say it doesn’t make sense to close a prison when the state’s prison system is 35 percent over capacity.

“There’s no need to close a prison,” said Danny Jarrett, a correctional officer who heads the Pontiac guard union.

The legislation is House Bill 1235.