City drafts letter in support of keeping prison open
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[September 20, 2011]
On Monday evening, John Black, AFSCME
union representative for Logan Correctional Center, and Dale
Ridgeway, AFSCME union representative for Lincoln Correctional
Center, were both in attendance at the voting session of the Lincoln
City Council.
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Black took the podium and briefly said the prison was facing a
serious issue with Gov. Pat Quinn' s proposed closure. He asked the
city to continue to support the prison as they have in the past.
Ridgeway also addressed the council, remembering and thanking the
city for their support when the governor was proposing layoffs in
2009.
He reported about an email he had attempted to send to Quinn' s
office, saying he received an email back referring him to another
office. He contacted that office and got the impression from the
person he spoke with that he or she didn' t really consider the
issue to be important. He said when he commented to that effect, he
was told otherwise, but still he was not satisfied with the
responses he did get.
He ended by thanking Mayor Keith Snyder and the council for their
continued support of both the prisons in Logan County.
And finally he issued a comment directly to Quinn: "Gov. Quinn, I
want you to remember that the citizens of Lincoln are not going to
stand, cannot stand to take another hit…"
Snyder thanked Black and Ridgeway for coming to the meeting. He
said there were opportunities coming up for the community to show
their support of the prisons, and ended by saying, "We' re not going
to take this lying down."
Below is the letter that Snyder has written and will sign along
with the city clerk, city treasurer and all the aldermen. In
addition, identical letters will be sent to each of the four
legislators representing this region.
___
(Copy)
September 19, 2011
The Honorable Pat
Quinn
Governor James R. Thompson Center
100 West Randolph, Suite 16-100
Chicago, Il 60601
Dear Governor
Quinn,
We are writing to
express our strong opposition to the closure of Logan Correctional
Center here in Lincoln. The loss of the 357 jobs at that facility
would have a destructive effect on our local economy, and the
assimilation of the 1,970 inmates housed at Logan would negatively
impact an already dangerous situation existing within the Illinois
correctional system.
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Logan Correctional
Center is a major employer in Lincoln and Logan County. All of the
357 families affected by your proposed closure do not live in
Lincoln, but every one of them contributes to our economy in some
way. For a community that still has not completely recovered from
the closure of the Lincoln Developmental Center in 2002 and a
community, like most in Illinois, that continues to struggle with
the negative effects of a declining national economy, closure of
this facility would be devastating.
Beyond Lincoln, the
closure of Logan Correctional Center would create a dangerous
situation for the entire State. As we hope you are aware, Illinois'
medium- and high-minimum security prisons already house 74% more
inmates than they were designed to hold. Closing Logan will push
that figure to over 90% above capacity. Why would you subject
correctional officers and Illinois residents to such a dangerous
situation?
These are tough
times for all of us and budget dollars are short for every level of
government. Allow us to suggest what we have done at the local
level: evaluate every single program and redirect limited dollars to
the most vital services. We are sure that if you do that, you will
find no more vital expenditure than keeping Illinois residents safe
and our communities strong.
On behalf of the
357 families who stand to lose jobs, the 14,500 people of Lincoln
who stand to suffer economically, and the 11 million residents of
Illinois who stand to lose security, please keep Logan Correctional
Center open.
[By NILA SMITH with text of letter
from Mayor Keith Snyder]
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