Stateville prison will remain open

CREST HILL -- The closed doors of Stateville prison will remain open.

On Monday, state Sen. A.J. Wilhelmi, other area legislators and elected officials announced Gov. Rod Blagojevich has changed his mind about shutting down the correctional center's maximum-security facility.

"The entire community ... showed the decision to close any part of Stateville was misguided and short-sighted," Wilhelmi said

Wilhelmi, a Joliet Democrat, was joined by Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete; Assistant Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno, R-Lemont; Sen. Linda Holmes, D-Aurora; Assistant House Majority Leader Jack McGuire, D-Joliet; Assistant House Minority Leader Brent Hassert, R-Romeoville; Will County Executive Larry Walsh; and Crest Hill Mayor Nick Churnovic, who all expressed relief the facility will remain open.

The Illinois Department of Corrections planned to transfer many of the 1,600 inmates housed in the facility to the Thomson Correctional Center on the northwestern edge of the state.

"This is the closest facility to Cook County where 70 percent of (the state's) prisoners are from," Wilhelmi said.

The closing also would have cut 400 jobs at the prison, said Stateville correctional officer Ralph Portwood, who is also president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1866.

"The union represents 1,000 employees at the prison and we're very relieved families won't have to relocate," Portwood said.

Union data shows Stateville employs over half of the African-Americans and a quarter of the Hispanics working in the Department of Corrections.

Besides uniting families of prisoners and prison guards, support for keeping the facility open was a bipartisan political effort.

"This episode raises some serious questions about the decision-making process in the Department of Corrections," Radogno said. "We've had roving prison closures for the last three years. The General Assembly needs to place a moratorium on (proposed) prison closures."

Corrections made the decision to close the facility last October, but did not inform legislators until February.

The legislators said the department substantially overestimated the cost of repairs to the facility at $100 million.

"Not everything on that list of capital improvements is necessary, like $500,000 for the warden's quarters," Wilhelmi said. "I spoke with engineers and employees there who know what's needed. One expert said 'If you give me $20 million (for repairs), this place will be unbelievable.'"

Walsh said deciding to shutter the facility after recent upgrades would've been a mistake.

"You just don't commit over $200 million of new improvements over the last decade to Stateville and then walk away from it," he said.

Wilhelmi proposed a capital improvement bill would be used to fund repairs that are necessary.

"When we toured (Stateville) we didn't see a facility crumbling," he said.

"It's built like a brick fortress," said Hassert. "It's never going to fall down, but it may need a little upkeep."