There's more to the Thomson prison story

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By Jon Whitney, Thomson | Friday, May 9, 2008 6:56 PM CDT | () comments

Regarding your editorial “Blagojevich foists yet another prison scheme” in the May 8 issue of the Times, I applaud your basic premise but have to suggest your readers and state officials consider some additional points.

First, the prison was “awarded as an economic plum” not by former Gov. George Ryan, but by his predecessor Gov. Jim Edgar who first attempted to site it at the shuttered federal installation Savanna Army Depot. After caving in to some large scale political pressure applied through federal agencies, Edgar chose to honor his promise to provide some economic stimulus to Northwestern Illinois by accepting an offer of essentially free land from Alliant Energy who owned approximately 900 acres of land adjacent to the village of Thomson.

It was under Gov. Ryan’s watch that money to fund the completed prison seemed to disappear, much of it apparently going to fund a variety of often-times questionable pet projects for Ryan’s constituents. Ryan may or may not have had a plan to use and fund the prison. I would suggest the Illinois Department of Corrections did have one, but saw it fall victim to political and financial machinations directed by the governor’s office.

   At the time of the prison’s siting at Thomson, the Illinois Department of Corrections did have a plan in place to utilize the nation’s most secure, modern and safest prison and they appeared to have sufficient funds available under the tenure of Gov. Edgar. That plan called for many of the worst, most incorrigible prisoners to be moved from the various Illinois prisons and housed essentially in single cell isolation at the Thomson Correctional Center. The plan was formed to ease some overcrowding in the state’s prison system, to remove prisoners whose presence in other prisons caused severe problems in those institutions with the intent to make the other institutions safer for prisoners and those guarding them.

   Your comment that a prison should not be a part of any community’s economic development plan may sound logical, however, it flies in the face of reality. As one who lived through the substantial effort to promote Northwest Illinois as a site for one of Illinois’ planned new prisons, the issue was one of planned economic development, not only in this area, but in numerous other communities throughout the state who lobbied the Illinois Department of Corrections and the governor’s office for many months prior to the actual site selection.

   Having said this, I certainly agree with your scathing sarcasm of Gov. Rod Blagojevich and his musical chair manipulation of Illinois’ prisons and the communities in which they are currently sited. You are correct that Illinois needs to make wise use of the Thomson prison. And, as much as I would like to see this prison open in its entirety to benefit the economic interests of my area, it should not and cannot be done by shutting down the economic engine that drives another community. The action currently proposed by Gov. Blagojevich to shut down Pontiac (or any other facility) and move the prisoners to Thomson would devastate that local economy and cause severe hardship to the employees and families serving that prison. Can you imagine what would happen to the housing market when it is flooded with six or seven hundred homes? Can you imagine the crises families would face trying to relocate, sell a house in a severely depressed market, maintain two mortgages, the disruption to the local schools and the fabric rending families would suffer?

   No, Illinois cannot follow Gov. Blagojevich’s current plan. What Illinois can do is have a governor and a legislature that works in tandem to wisely spend its tax dollars to provide Illinois citizens with the services they are paying for. That means a host of special interest groups, favored contractors and projects that are simply politically connected siphons of those dollars must be dumped in favor of sound financial decisions.

Sincerely,

Jon Whitney

Thomson