Decatur to host conference detailing Illinois prison closures

Illinois state Senators Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, and Dan Rutherford, R-Pontiac, are scheduled to hold a press conference Tuesday at the Illinois Department of Corrections in Decatur. The conference is part of a multi-city tour of correctional facilities to support the legislators' belief that potential prison closures could hurt the state.

"Roving prison closures for the last three years throughout the state are detrimental for several reasons," Radogno said in a press release.

Radogno said that the state's current prison population is at 132 percent, making closures illogical from a public safety perspective.

However, Radogno added that there is also an economic disadvantage to closing prisons. While closing prisons was tentatively slated to save anywhere from $4 to $5 million depending on the prison, Radogno said a longer effect will be felt by the community members that work in the prisons.

"Often times those prisons are a significant portion of the economic activity in those communities ... so when you propose to lay off several hundred people, the ripples through the area are very, very significant," she said. "I don't think the state will net out those savings (from prison closures) because people will stop purchasing vehicles and they don't have jobs, they're not going to be spending, they're not going to be generating income tax to the state or sales tax to the state."

Instead, Radogno and Rutherford are advocating for a Senate amendment to a House bill. The attachment would create a panel to assess the state of prisons in Illinois, similar to the Illinois Department of Transportation's five-year plan. The planned panel would consist of representatives from the Department of Corrections, Democrats and Republicans from both the House and Senate, representatives from employee unions and prisoner advocacy groups.

The proposal would evaluate the cost of fixing already existing prisons, the possibility of turning current prisons into mental health facilities or other such facilities or rebuilding on current correctional sites.

"Those are all things that you have to consider, but all we're saying is don't make these very willy-nilly decisions to close a prison on a whim without giving thought to all of the other implications," Radogno said.

Since the House and Senate are not in session, Radogno said they had met with Blagojevich to discuss the possibility of him creating an executive order, which would put the amendment into place immediately. Although Blagojevich initially expressed interest, Radogno said that she believes discussions have halted due to priority being placed on the state budget.

The press conference is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. at the Illinois Department of Corrections in Decatur, 2310 East Mound Road.