Prison guard plan criticized

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By Blackwell Thomas | Friday, March 16, 2007 1:11 AM CDT | () comments

SPRINGFIELD — A group of Republican state lawmakers blasted proposed job changes at the Illinois Department of Corrections on Thursday, saying the moves were a blatant example of patronage that could put prison guards in danger.

The lawmakers are concerned that prison staffing changes outlined in Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s proposed budget would leave prisons severely short-staffed of guards and top-heavy with politically connected bureaucrats.

Republican Reps. Roger Eddy of Hutsonville, Mike Bost of Murphysboro and several others said the changes will mean fewer frontline officers.

“The big danger is you are going to have political hacks in this mid-management range,” Bost said of the proposed changes. “Their experience is in working precincts for the governor or contributing to the governor and not in corrections.

“Many of the people who have been promoted under the governor into those positions, their overall service record wasn’t very good,” he added. “Some of them moved up and had to move right back down because they couldn’t handle it once they got there.”

Blagojevich’s budget proposal calls for 140 new supervisors. According to numbers from the department, the changes would create a total of 124 new positions while cutting some existing jobs to make way for the supervisors.

The move comes just four years after Blagojevich fought to cut 200 prison captains.

Derek Schnapp, a DOC spokesman, disagreed with the lawmakers’ assessment of the proposal and said some jobs will be shifted between prisons, but there will not be a decrease in guards.

“About 70 percent of the 124 new positions will be frontline security,” he said. “We don’t know how many people will be moved. Once again, this is just being proposed.”

Schnapp said there will be opportunities for corrections officers to apply for the new management-oriented positions.

Numbers quoted by the Republican lawmakers differed from Schnapp’s numbers in that they said the changes would eliminate 155 lieutenant and sergeants positions. Regardless of the discord in their numbers, Rep. Ron Stephens, R-Troy, said none of the state’s prisons can afford to give up any frontline positions.

“It’s well-documented that our prisons are bursting at the seams and because of the overcrowding, our frontline staff are already seriously overburdened,” he said. “They are tired, and they are vulnerable to attack. We don’t need more middle-managers in our prison system. What we need are on-the-line prison guards.”

Blackwell Thomas can be contacted at (217) 789-0865 or Blackwell.Thomas@lee.net.