By Dave Dahl
LINCOLN – The Illinois legislature’s Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability (COGFA) Friday will make final recommendations about the future of the Stateville and Logan state prisons, which the Pritzker administration wants to replace.
While the acting corrections director, Latoya Hughes, says a final decision on locating Logan’s all-women population has not been made, the administration is considering the new prison for the Joliet area, already home to Stateville.
COGFA heard testimony Tuesday in Joliet and Thursday in Lincoln leading up to today’s meeting. At Lincoln, the only argument in favor of relocating to Will County was the ease with which loved ones in the Chicago area could visit inmates.
Most of the testimony was about jobs – jobs lost in Lincoln and jobs difficult to fill in Joliet.
“The majority of the highly trained and specialized staff at Logan will likely not relocate to northern Illinois,” said AFSCME’s Michael Newman. “The department will have to start over in hiring staff at the new facility, which raises all sorts of questions about safety and security at the new facility and about how to replicate the specialized care and resources currently available to the individuals in custody at Logan.”
Losing Logan would be a third blow to a community which recently saw two colleges close.
“Governor Pritzker,” said retiree Shannon Kelly, “If you move forward with your plan, you will be the assassin that kills Lincoln, Illinois.”
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]
