Prison closing plan gets support

By Kurt Erickson | Wednesday, May 07, 2008

SPRINGFIELD — A plan aimed at stopping Gov. Rod Blagojevich from closing Pontiac Correctional Center has gained the support of a top Senate Democrat.

Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete, has signed on as a co-sponsor of legislation that would impose a moratorium on prison closings.

Halvorson, who is running for Congress in Illinois’ 11th district, could help shepherd the Republican proposal through the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Halvorson is a key ally of Senate President Emil Jones,

D-Chicago, who controls what legislation is voted on in the

Senate.

Details of the proposed moratorium are expected to be released during a press conference in Springfield Thursday.

The proposal was hastily drafted after Blagojevich, a Democrat from Chicago, turned his sights on Pontiac after agreeing not to move forward with his earlier plan to close the maximum-security portion of the Stateville Correctional Center.

Blagojevich wants to shutter Pontiac by January for a savings of $4 million to $5 million. The inmates would be transferred to the state’s unused prison in Thomson, north of the Quad-Cities.

Kurt Erickson can be contacted at (217) 789-0865 or kurt.erickson@lee.net. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.