The Tribune’s July 27 editorial about the Illinois prison system overlooks many factors that were central to our efforts to keep open the correctional centers in Vandalia and Pontiac, and the youth center in St. Charles. The truth of the matter is that the governor’s office was never able to convince lawmakers that closing these facilities was truly going to save the state any money.
Prior to the governor’s budget proposal, no study was done to detail the impact of closing the Vandalia and St. Charles facilities on the rest of the correctional system. No study was done to determine the net savings, if any, to the state that would result from the closure of these facilities. No analysis was provided to the General Assembly reflecting how these closures would affect prison overcrowding.
The arguments about the older facilities needing millions of dollars in improvements are not accurate, either, because the renovation costs are based more on wish lists for those facilities, not the basic structural needs of those facilities.
And there were the human considerations. What about the communities that depend on the jobs and tax revenues these facilities provide? We met the residents of Vandalia, Pontiac and St. Charles. Had the facilities closed, hundreds of employees would have been faced with being out of work or moving. Contrary to the administration’s claims, not all employees were guaranteed jobs.
What about the people who are housed in these prisons and the people who work at these facilities? Overcrowding is hard on the inmates, as well as dangerous for the guards and other prison employees.
The editorial downplays the problem of prison overcrowding in Illinois, saying, “Prison officials argue that the prison system is overcrowded, but that’s based on their assessment of what their facilities’ optimum capacities are, depending on how many inmates they think should be single-celled and how many double- or multiple-celled.”
According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Illinois prisons are filled to more than 130 percent of rated capacity. Department of Corrections Director Roger Walker has stated that Illinois’ adult prison population totals 43,000 inmates in a correctional system designed to hold 31,000.
The Tribune editorial uses recent declining inmate population trends to argue for prison closures. Walker has warned us that, although the department has experienced a small population decline recently, the effects of long-term sentencing enhancements enacted during the late 1990s will cause the prison population to begin to increase again during the next several years.
There may be a time to close prisons in Illinois when overcrowding is no longer an issue. When that time comes, dramatic changes in the prison system should come as a result of a thoughtful, deliberative process. Such a process was enacted into law this year by the General Assembly. Under the State Facilities Closure Act, major changes to the prison system resulting in prison closures must now undergo a thorough review that can include public hearings, community input and a review of the impact of closure decisions on the prison system as a whole.
In stark contrast, the governor recommended major changes to the correctional system this year without undertaking a thorough review of the entire system. And the proposal to close the Pontiac prison, literally drafted overnight without any study or public input whatsoever, represented shoot-from-the-hip government at its worst. Major alterations to the state’s correctional system are significant public policy issues. We owe it to the taxpayers of Illinois and the men and women who work within the system to take the time to make the most informed decisions in this area.
