Stateville union workers plan Crest Hill demonstration to oppose closure

Stateville Correctional Center workers on Thursday plan to hold a demonstration objecting to the prison’s closure and potential layoffs.

The demonstration will take place at 4 p.m. outside the prison in Crest Hill.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees, the union that represents Stateville employees, said in a news release that “the looming threat to close the prison and the abrupt transfer of Stateville’s incarcerated population has the prison system in disarray and their jobs in doubt.”

Stateville employees want the prison to remain open while a new prison is built.

The state plans to demolish Stateville, and prison closure has been accelerated since a federal judge earlier this month ordered most inmates moved out by the end of September because of conditions at the facility.