Reductions at Pontiac prison? Not so fast, governor says

Are units at Pontiac prison going to be closed, maybe taking jobs with them? The governor’s office said it’s only in discussion.

Three lawmakers from Central Illinois and three from Southern Illinois, all Republicans, signed a Feb. 11 letter to Pritzker and Rob Jeffreys, director of the Illinois Department of Corrections, asking both about the future of the prisons in Pontiac and Vandalia.

“Due to recent transfers of significant numbers of inmates out of the Pontiac and Vandalia Correctional Centers, there is significant concern in these communities about the future of those facilities,” the letter read. “As both of these correctional centers serve as some of the largest employers in their respective regions, any changes to staffing or inmate population levels would have a major impact on the economic health of those areas.”

The proposal, first obtained by Lee Enterprises, called for closing Pontiac’s medium security unit in mid-March, to be followed by closing two additional cell houses later this year, reducing inmate capacity by nearly two-thirds.

Under the proposed plan, Pontiac would close the medium security unit and go from 1,740 beds to 642 beds, according to Capitol News Illinois. Pontiac currently houses 1,144 inmates, including a unit that houses seriously mentally ill individuals. Vandalia Correctional Center currently has a capacity of 1,001 and would be reduced to 401 inmates under the plan.

Both facilities face maintenance costs, including $3.8 million at Pontiac. The reduction of beds at Vandalia will save the state $12 million, according to plan estimates.

But a spokeswoman for the governor said the document was “a draft plan” assembled for discussion within the agency.

“It was not presented to the Governor’s Office for final approval because it is a draft that is expected to be updated after more discussions,” Press Secretary Jordan Abudayyeh said in a statement. “The Department is always interested in considering new ideas to better serve their population and this draft plan is an attempt to spur discussion about ways to improve services.”

State Sen. Sue Rezin (R-Morris) said she’ll be watching, anyway.

“It is concerning whenever any state facility is rumored to be potentially downsizing as they are both a source of good-paying jobs and are economic drivers for their region,” Rezin said. “I have spoken with other members of the Senate Republicans impacted by this potential move, which has prompted our caucus to send a formal letter requesting additional information from the Pritzker administration.”

The proposal drew fire last week when a group of lawmakers demanded information in a letter signed by, among others, state Sen. Jason Barickman of Bloomington and state Reps. Dan Brady of Normal and Thomas Bennett of Pontiac. (Three more legislators from the Vandalia area also signed on.)

The lawmakers asked IDOC for details such as the number of inmate transfers from the facilities, whether the inmates will return and what plans are in place for the two facilities. They also requested an in-person meeting.

“We understand that there are significant deferred maintenance needs at both facilities and that some shuffling of population levels may be temporarily necessary to make needed repairs and upgrades,” they wrote. “We are, however, seriously concerned about the administration’s plans for the future of these facilities.”

The proposal also drew ire from AFSCME Council 31 — the union that represents IDOC officers.

“The department began moving offenders out of Pontiac last week with no advance notice to the union, the employees or the individuals who were moved,” said Anders Lindall, public affairs director for AFSCME Council 31, to Capitol News Illinois.

Lindall noted the union subsequently received notice of IDOC’s intent to reduce populations at Vandalia and Pontiac with a target date of March 16 for the first phase with additional unit closures to be completed by the summer.

Lindall said the union began to hear rumors early last week about possible changes at Pontiac and met with IDOC officials on Feb. 9, during which IDOC denied that possible changes may be forthcoming.

“On Wednesday, seven buses arrived at the facility and began to empty out the medium security units. Only on Friday did they inform us of their plan to close the MSU that they earlier denied,” Lindall said.

In response to questions, Lindsay wrote in an email that “the department has not started moving people in order to reduce the populations in these facilities.”

“This is an unacceptable breach of trust from IDOC management and not the basis of productive labor relations,” Lindall said. “Especially given the history of closure threats at both Pontiac and Vandalia, these new changes introduce uncertainty and instability that hurt employee morale and the lack of truthfulness in presenting them make union members question whether they can rely on management’s commitments.”

— Capitol News Illinois reporter Beth Hundsdorfer contributed to this report.