Legislators call for end to games with prisons

A little more than four years ago, Vandalia area residents successfully staved off Gov. Rod Blagojevichs proposal to close Vandalia Correctional Center. Today, residents in another community area having to put up the same kind of fight.

State legislators who say they are tired of the governor playing political games with Illinois prisons are asking Blagojevich to take action that would keep that from happening in the future.

Two Republican state senators, Dan Rutherford of Pontiac and Christine Radogno of Lemont, lead the effort of having the governor, by executive order, implement a prison closure moratorium.

They are also asking Blagojevich to create a panel of individuals who would establish some long-range plans for the Illinois Department of Corrections and the agencys facilities. They would like to see such a panel made up of legislators, correctional facility employees, the IDOC director and representatives from organizations that have a thorough understanding of correctional facilities and inmate populations.

The proposal offered by Rutherford and Radogno comes on the heels of an IDOC recommendation to close the Roundhouse at Stateville Correctional Center, in an area represented by Radogno.

Then, over the course of a weekend, the agency switched its closure proposal to Pontiac Correctional Center, which is in Rutherfords district.

Radogno called the administrations current process roving prison closures, saying that legislators from both political parties are part of the team calling for the governor to take executive action on the issue.

Radogno and Rutherford have been visiting prisons throughout the state to tout their proposal, and when they visited Vandalia Correctional Center, they were accompanied by state Sen. Frank Watson, the Greenville Republican who serves as the Illinois Senates minority leader.

The three legislators explained that their proposal, if implemented, would supplement the states Facilities Closure Act. Approved by legislators after the attempt to close VCC, that act mandates that the state conduct public hearings and research any proposals to close a state prison.

Radogno said the act is a reactive measure to a proposed prison closure. Their new proposal, she said, is a proactive measure on the operations of IDOC facilities.

The state has a blueprint for how communities need to react when a prison closure is announced, she said.

Unfortunately, we have a great plan on how to respond to the announcement of closures; we dont have a great plan for the Department of Corrections, she said.

The way that prison closures have been proposed in recent years, Radogno said, call into question how much planning is going on in the Department of Corrections.

This department is a $2 billion (a year) department, it employs thousands of people and its responsible for safeguarding the public.

What we need is a long-term plan that not only addresses the public safety needs, which are obviously the foremost priority, but also needs to look at the impact (of a closing) on employees, the families of prisoners, the services provided to prisoners and also on the economic impact that these facilities have on the communities that host them, she said.

Rutherford said, This governor continues to make these (closure) announcements without any real plan, as to the reasons and why they are making these decisions.

We dont have enough certified bed space and we have too many prisoners to close down perfectly functioning and good facilities, he said, adding that the IDOC system is currently operating at 135 percent of capacity.

Having a plan for IDOC would be no different than the Illinois Department of Transportations five-year plans for roads and bridges throughout the state, he said.

Its imperative, we believe, that this governor understand that long-range planning is a good thing its a good thing for him, its a good thing for the taxpayers and its a good thing for (IDOC) programming, Rutherford said.

Watson said the long-range planning would prevent what happened when Blagojevich tried to close VCC in 2004.

The administration said this was an old, rundown correctional center, and it didnt take very long to realize that that was not true, he said.

I dont think the administration did its homework. They didnt do very good research as to the impact of that statement, Watson said.

Putting a mission like this together is important, because that wouldnt happen anymore

It would not necessarily prevent a prison closure, but if there is a closure, there would be proof that its being done as part of a well-thought-out plan, Watson said.