Latest prison closings proposal would benefit Thomson

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By Kurt Erickson | Monday, May 05, 2008 |

SPRINGFIELD — Pontiac’s loss of a maximum-security prison could be a big win for Thomson.

But no one in the Carroll County community with a near-empty prison is ready to celebrate.

For the second time since Gov. Rod Blagojevich took office, his administration has targeted the 137-year-old lock-up in Pontiac for closure as part of a proposal officials say will save money and allow the state to begin using the newer prison in Thomson.

Pontiac inmates would be transferred to Thomson, which was completed in 2001 for $170 million but never fully opened.

Once running at full capacity sometime next year, Thomson would employ 610 workers, said Sergio Molina, a top aide to Roger Walker, director of the Illinois Department Department of Corrections.

Thomson Village President Jerry Hebeler said he and fellow residents remain skeptical about the latest plan.

“I just keep saying this over and over: I won’t believe it until I see it,” Hebeler said Monday.

Pontiac, home to Illinois’ death row, was put in the crosshairs Monday after Blagojevich, a Democrat from Chicago, scrapped his earlier plan to close the maximum-security wing at Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet.

As is usually the case with proposed prison closings, local lawmakers vigorously fought the Stateville proposal. And state and local officials vowed Monday to fight the Pontiac plan.

As part of a deal worked out with Democrats in the Illinois Senate, the governor said he would save the 83-year-old Stateville and instead close Pontiac, which is represented by Republican lawmakers.

“This is just political in my mind,” said state Rep. Shane Cultra, R-Onarga. “Stateville is in a Democratic area, and Pontiac is in a Republican area.”

Currently, the Pontiac prison houses 1,650 inmates. About 1,300 would go to Thomson, while the remaining 330 medium-security inmates would go to similar facilities around the state.

The 551 employees at Pontiac would be offered jobs at other area prisons, including those in Stateville, Sheridan, Dwight and Lincoln, Molina said.

“We would obviously work closely with the union,” Molina said.

Roberta Lynch, deputy director of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, said the union was preparing to fight to keep the prison open.

“We don’t think there’s any reason whatsoever to close Pontiac,” Lynch said.

The plan to close Pontiac and open Thomson was noted in a letter sent Friday from Walker to state Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi, D-Joliet.

“We believe our goals can best be achieved at this time by keeping the maximum-security portion of the Stateville Correctional Center open and by closing the Pontiac Correctional Center,” Walker said in his letter.

Wilhelmi was among those fighting to stop the proposed closure at Stateville.

State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, said the state shouldn’t close Pontiac, despite its age, when there is overcrowding within the state’s prison system.

“It’s an appropriate, functional facility,” Rutherford said. “I cannot believe these guys.”

Although corrections officials said closing Stateville would have saved an estimated $31 million, Molina said closing Pontiac and opening Thomson will save $4 million to $5 million annually.

There is little doubt closing the facility in Pontiac would hurt Livingston County’s economy. In addition to its workers, the prison does business with many local companies.

A 2004 study commissioned after the governor threatened to close Pontiac found that Livingston County would lose nearly $40 million if the prison were to cease operating. Most of that money comes through the payroll paid to workers, but it also included figures for prison visitors as well as utility costs that are paid to the city.

The proposal to close Pontiac is not a done deal. The General Assembly will first hold hearings on the plan. And lawmakers could budget enough money to keep the facility open.

“We’ll follow the letter of the law,” Rutherford said. “We’ll make a very impactful case that this will be very harmful to the economy.”

But in western Illinois and eastern Iowa, the change would benefit the economy.

Steve Ames, president and CEO of the Clinton Regional Development Corp., said more jobs at the Thomson prison would be a positive development for Clinton, Iowa, and the surrounding area.

“Those are good salaries, and they’ll demand housing and services, which is a good thing for us,” Ames said.

(Quad-City Times reporter Steven Martens contributed to this report.)

Kurt Erickson can be contacted at kurt.erickson@lee.net or (217) 789-0865.