 Lincoln Mayor Beth Davis-Kavelman had received a letter from G.
Michael Ingles that was read before the council. Ingles identified
himself as a taxpayer and past president of the Illinois Municipal
League. He requested that a letter be sent to the governor
recommending that he not close the Pontiac prison.
Ingles cited a state-funded $400,000 study that identified prison
overcrowding and found it in the best interest of Illinois that the
prison stay open.
Davis-Kavelman said Ingles' request was much like what the city
did six years ago when Lincoln Developmental Center was threatened
with closure. "We reached out to other communities," she said.
"We definitely have empathy," she added, "and we have two prisons
that certainly could be targeted next."
Alderman Verl Prather agreed that it couldn't hurt to send a
letter that "would at least ask the governor to pay attention to his
own study that he spent so much money on."
The full council lent its support to send the letter.
It was on July 15 that the Illinois Department of Corrections
filed a "recommendation for closure" of the Pontiac prison.
In response, a government commission was called to review the
request for closure of a government facility.
[to top of second column] |
The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability reviewed
the formal studies and held hearings. They included in their report
that the study projected an economic impact that "will save the
state $3.6 million annually, in a $30 billion annual operations
budget, but would devastate Livingston County and other counties
surrounding the prison." The report also took note that the study
concluded that the proposed Department of Corrections changes, which
included closing the Pontiac prison, would create both public safety
and staff security issues.
On Sept. 16, the commission members voted 9-0 not to accept the
Department of Corrections recommendation to close the Pontiac
prison. Their report concluded, "Displacing these 569 employees in
an effort to save $3.6 million, or 0.125 percent of the state's
general funds budget, is not an acceptable course of action."
[By
JAN YOUNGQUIST]
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