Illinois Governor Pat Quinn announced today seven Illinois facilities are closing to save the state money. The facilities affected got a memo from the state yesterday letting them know employees and prisoners need to be out in just two months.
Tamms and Dwight correctional centers, halfway houses in southern Illinois, Decatur, and Chicago, and the youth centers in Murphysboro and Joliet are all set to close. All but Joliet will be closed by August.
This will save the state around $86 million, but it means these prisoners are moving to other facilities around the state, which could include East Moline Correctional Center, posing a danger not only to the staff but the community too.
"The prisoners in Tamms are the worst of the worst, they are people who have assaulted or even killed fellow prisoners or guards," State Representative Rich Morthland says of the prisoners who may end up in East Moline.
Governor Quinn's plan to close the two prisons, Dwight and Tamms, which is a maximum security prison, has prison workers wary.
"I believe there's a very good chance our 116 beds they brought in last year, that they never should've brought in, will be filled," AFSCME President Gregg Johnson says, "This will further endanger our staff and the community even more."
Union reps say East Moline Correctional Center, which is a minimum security prison, is far over its original capacity of 750, housing almost double that at over 1200 inmates.
Workers say living quarters are already cramped, putting seven inmates in rooms where there used to be only three. The union says the prison is understaffed, with sometimes one correctional officer to 200 inmates.
"We're at the governor's mercy on this," Johnson says, "They rarely take into account the security of the staff involved or the surrounding communities."
A block away from the prison in East Moline, George Ochoa has lived in his house for almost 40 years. He says there have been a few incidents, but he's never been worried until now.
"Well, it makes me think," he says, "You never know; there has been someone escaping already. Somebody else could do it too."
"Who isn't afraid that they might take someone's car as their driving by?" Neighbor Jose Maldonado says, "They're high security so they are in there for a reason."
Many still remember the inmate escaping last fall and are worried the prison won't get the security upgrades it needs once these new prisoners arrive.
"The community was very fortunate the last inmate that escaped didn't take a violent path, who knows what could happen in the future?" Johnson says.
The governor's reps say the closed facilities are not full and too costly to operate. The state of Illinois is currently $9.2 billion in debt and climbing.
