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* 2:28 pm - The Director of the State Department of Corrections has written a letter to Sen. AJ Wilhelmi (D-Joliet) stating that he is committed to opening the “state of the art” prison in Thomson, and wants to close the state prison in Pontiac…

“We believe our goals can best be achieved at this time by keeping the maximum security portion of the [Joliet] Stateville Correctional Center open and by closing the Pontiac Correctional Center.”

Joliet, which was slated for closure by Gov. Blagojevich, is represented by Democrats, Pontiac is represented by Republicans who all voted for recall, but I’m sure that had nothing to do with it. Nope.

* Read Director Walker’s letter by clicking here.

* Last week, you will recall, Wilhelmi claimed he had gotten word that Stateville would remain open. What he didn’t mention is the passage in the letter from Director Walker stating the department’s intention to close Pontiac, instead.

* 3:07 pm - Sen. Dan Rutherford, the Republican who represents Pontiac, responds…

The Pontiac prison is the largest employer in that north-central Illinois community, and its closure would devastate the town, Rutherford said.

“The troubling part is the facility is in absolutely good, functioning order,” he said. “It’s not like it’s a decrepit, falling down place.”

*** 4:12 pm *** Mayor Daley loses it again…

Mayor Richard Daley said Monday that the proposed Children’s Museum in Grant Park is designed to be mostly underground because opponents don’t want to see children. […]

“We just built a four-story building for The Art Institute,” he said. No one objected to that. That’s only for adults.”

Yeah. No kids ever go to the Art Institute. Right. Gotcha. Roger-Wilco.

* And we have finally edged closer to an admission that the “bridge to nowhere” was built that way for a reason…

As he leveled criticism at museum plan critics, Daley also noted that the BP Bridge winds from Millennium Park to Bicentennial Park, which now has tennis courts, gardens and a field house.

“You go across that bridge, and it goes nowhere,” he said. “We want that bridge to go and bring these kids right up to a wonderful children’s park in Millennium Park. Why not?”

posted by Rich Miller
Monday, May 5, 08 @ 2:29 pm

Comments

Doesn’t Pontiac have a prior history of escapses and a number inmate deaths from a fire and outdated systems?

Comment by Ghost Monday, May 5, 08 @ 2:34 pm
Sure — Joliet and Pontiac’s representation has nothing to do with it, and there’s no more business as usual in this administration, and I’m gonna rip out a tooth and put it under my pillow and expect cash from the tooth fairy…

Comment by BehindTheScenes Monday, May 5, 08 @ 2:35 pm
Since when is Brent Hassert a Democrat (no snark intended)?

Comment by tubbfan Monday, May 5, 08 @ 2:40 pm
I think the prison itself is in the other half of the district, but not sure. Brent, however, has shown a willingness to play ball on impeachment, recall, etc.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 5, 08 @ 2:41 pm
It is spelled “Thomson” not “Thompson.”

Comment by Joliet Copy Editor Monday, May 5, 08 @ 2:43 pm
Thanks. In too much of a rush, I suppose.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 5, 08 @ 2:45 pm
I am shocked, shocked to find there is gambling going on in this establishment….(I know the line gets over used in describing Blago’s antics, but is there a better one?)

Comment by Leigh Monday, May 5, 08 @ 2:47 pm
This Illinois Politics at it’s best.
It has everything to do with the recall vote.
-

Ghost - Monday, May 5, 08 @ 2:34 pm:

Doesn’t Pontiac have a prior history of escapses and a number inmate deaths from a fire and outdated systems?

I have worked at Pontiac since 1989 and no escapes and no deaths from fires.

Comment by Democrat Monday, May 5, 08 @ 2:54 pm
yeah, but Ghost, that can’t be the reasoning behind the closing here as weren’t we just told that Stateville prisoners would partially be shifted to Pontiac?

Comment by Princeville Monday, May 5, 08 @ 2:54 pm
“To the Victor belongs the Spoils” - usually attributed to President Andrew Jackson, but also to Senator William Learned Marcy of New York.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Monday, May 5, 08 @ 3:01 pm
It’s not about the facilities at Pontiac vs Joliet….it’s all about reward and punishment. While I believe this Governor to be the most corrupt that I have ever witnessed….this is just raw politics….every govcernor does it in one way or another.

Comment by downhereforyears Monday, May 5, 08 @ 3:01 pm
Ok, so I am also in line with the politics at work here. It has been going on in Illinois, Montana, California, Rome…wherever it may be, since the beginning of time. It has evolved, however, into a mutant form and doesn’t take into considerations such as the economy, and well, the every day walk-of-life non-political population. Sadly, families continue to be affected by politics. But it is, as was mentioned, a fact of life.

Comment by BandCamp Monday, May 5, 08 @ 3:11 pm
Democrat, the fire was early eighties as I recall, but the escape was in the early 90’s 93 or 94 I think). In fact there was a trial in Sangamon county by the officers who were fired as a result of the escape. So if you have been there since 89 then you were present for the escape.

Then there was the riot in the 70’s, but I digress. Thomson is a far superior facility to Pontaic. The first parts of Pontiac Correctional were built in 1871, with updates in 1900’s and so forth. It is the oldest male max security prison in IL (Dwight prison, just donw the road from Pontiac is older)

Comment by Ghost Monday, May 5, 08 @ 3:20 pm
Dwight was opened in 1930. Pontiac is much older.

Comment by Corrections Monday, May 5, 08 @ 3:22 pm
I understand raw politics and I understand new prisons are sited at one location or another because of politics.

But I hope some consideration in this particular instance was given to security of the inmates and safety of the employees. Politics has no business in either. Serious people were dealing with here.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 5, 08 @ 3:24 pm
One escape is a “prior history of escapses”? Who you spinning?

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 5, 08 @ 3:24 pm
Here’s another reality. I am willing to assume most, if not all, of the prisons are horribly overpopulated. Staff (Correctional Officers) count is way down. And all we hear every session is what facility is going to close? It would appear we need not close, but open more facilities. So leave Pontiac alone, open Thomson (finally, after all these years), and work on making the Correctional system safe for all involved.

Comment by BandCamp Monday, May 5, 08 @ 3:33 pm
Bandcamp,

Good idea, but where will the money come from?

Comment by Downstate weed chewing hick Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:08 pm
The money would come from a more efficiently run state, which of course will never happen.

There’s been a balanced buget before, but are we too deep in it to turn it around? I think without raising taxes in some way, we’re not going to find much money for anything.

Comment by BandCamp Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:16 pm
===There’s been a balanced buget before,===

Except for a few years at the end of the Clinton administration and the very beginning of the Bush administration, every year I’ve covered the GA I’ve witnessed wrenching budget decisions.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:18 pm
I’m convinced that somewhere the Director of Corrections has a dart board with the prison names on it.

Comment by Truth Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:23 pm
Forgive my naivete, but perhaps someone can explain why no one in the media has called out Mayor Hubris regarding his increasingly bizarre, hpocritical, and unsupported-by-the-facts comments on the CCM. I understand that he’s used to little, if any resistance from local pols and the like, but he’s truly gone off the deep end with these rants.

And he’s already laid the groundwork for major tax increases (CPS, blue cart recycling, snow removal budget destroyed) - unless of course it’s an election year.

Comment by The Doc Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:26 pm
If there has been anyone in the Senate that has shown remarkable resolve not to automatically jump on the “Recall Rod” bandwagon, it’s been Rutherford. Primarily, I think out of sense of statesmanship and recognition for the impact such a proceeding would have on the diminishing the integrity of the Office of the Governor.

On Friday, Boy Genius decides to stick a knife in Springfield and disrupt the lives of 140+ families. Now, he’s apparently decided that Pontiac has been left untouched for too long. So, what to do? Go after something near and dear to Senator Rutherford’s district. If I were Blagojevich, I would take a very, very deep breath before treading into that decision — I mean a very, deep breath.

He also needs to think about the impact it would have on the families of the inmates (follow me for a second here– I know the largest impact is on the community). Most of the family members who travel to Pontiac to visit relatives in prison are from — anyone? anyone? Cook County! And Pontiac is a fairly easy drive from Chicago. So, if this goes forward, the family members would have to drive further to see their relatives, the town of Pontiac (not to mention many of the surrounding little villages) would essentially die, and inmates would be no safer because there would still be a shortage of guards.

Maybe if the Boy Wonder had attended the National Governors Association Orientation Session — nah, who am I kidding.

Be careful of political retribution, Rodney. It can also have a boomerang effect.

Comment by SuperDave Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:31 pm
===Pontiac is a fairly easy drive from Chicago.===

And an easy Amtrak ride. I’d bet that service ends if the prison closes.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:32 pm
Amazing Factoid!
According to a recent poll, 89% of inmates at Pontiac Correctional Center have at one time driven a Pontiac!

Coincidence? Or Conspiracy?

Comment by VanillaMan Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:38 pm
Senator Rutherford proudly drives a Pontiac as well…

Comment by SuperDave Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:47 pm
Yes, this is legacy building. Daley thinks that when he is long gone, the steady drone of corruption and scandals will fade and he will be remembered for Millennium Park. He sees the Children Museum, connected by that ridiculous bridge, as the final piece in the puzzle.

Not that there have been rational comments from him up to now on this subject, but comparing the Children’s Museum to the Art Institute demonstrates either cynical dishonesty or a profound misunderstanding of what each means to the city.

Comment by wordslinger Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:48 pm
Gee, no wonder kids grow up resenting their elders then become embittered as they hit 21.

Comment by Crimefighter Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:49 pm
A year ago Sen Jacobs was in the papers calling for possible closure of Pontiac so Thomson could open and rattling about the jobs it would bring to his area. There’s a statement in article from Rebecca saying the governor had no plans to wade in soon again on prison closure and then article reminds reader of the 2004 prison closure ideas.
(*I was reading an old article in the Pantagraph from 8 March 2007 by Kurt Erickson)

So what changed? Are we considering closing Pontiac because it is “old and inefficient” as Blago stated in a article by Doug Finke in the SJ-R on 3 June 2004? Then why were prisoners going to moved there after last months idea of closing Stateville? Or are we just shifting jobs around like sending Traffic Safety down to Southern Illinois?

Comment by Princeville Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:51 pm
I’d bet that service ends if the prison closes.

Geez, the train stops in Dwight (population 4,300) 3 times a day southbound and 4 times a day northbound. Pontiac (population 11,300) would have to totally shrivel up to justify Amtrak to whiz by without stopping at least 2 of its trains there.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:52 pm
Dwight also has a prison.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:52 pm
Princeville-

I notice Sen. Jacobs did the governor a “favor” by voting no on the recall bill and instead asking for his resignation.

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Monday, May 5, 08 @ 4:56 pm
Is there any actual evidence that this was a quid pro quo, or is this just an educated guess?

Comment by Squideshi Monday, May 5, 08 @ 5:13 pm
Dwight also has a prison.

1,039 prisoners at Dwight, 1,660 at Pontiac.

If half the business is prison families, Pontiac still has enough background population to roughly equal Dwight’s Amtrak customer base. Don’t get me wrong, I think Pontiac CC should stay open and I am not a fan of this impending decision; but the community would not be totally devastated and go “ghost town” by a closure. They’ve still got I-55 and a thriving farming and landfill business. It would hurt kinda like Maytag leaving Galesburg, but the city would survive as it reinvented itself. The trains still stop in Galesburg, right?

Comment by Six Degrees of Separation Monday, May 5, 08 @ 5:13 pm
Not sure this matters much, but isn’t Dwight a prison for women?

And yes, the mayor has completely lost touch with reality on the CCM issue. He’s been a ridiculous dufus before, I just can’t figure this one out yet. He just gets more and more bizarre with this one.

Comment by 47th Ward Monday, May 5, 08 @ 5:22 pm
47th Ward, if he wasn’t who he is he’d be laughed out of town with these goofy antics.

All this over a glorified McDonald’s Playland. Unreal.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 5, 08 @ 5:24 pm
Should we be keeping people in jail so their prisons can hold up the surrounding community economically.

Today’s NYT has another article on the huge racial disparities in drug arrests and imprisonment. Huge.If they didn’t exist, we wouldn’t need all these jails.

Another example of our pols not stepping up to the plate.

Comment by Cassandra Monday, May 5, 08 @ 7:08 pm
If Wilhelmi knew the Joliet prison wasn’t going to be closed a week prior, please tell me how this had anyhting to do with a recall vote that was never going to get out of the seante and did not have neough votes in the House.

Comment by T-Rex Monday, May 5, 08 @ 8:47 pm
Didn’t Blago threaten to shut down Vandalia a few years ago and that didn’t happen. Anyone remember why. Who had to kiss whose rearend and for what purpose?

Comment by Little Egypt Monday, May 5, 08 @ 9:26 pm
Rather than closing Pontiac they should just leave well enough alone there. They can open Thomson by ramping up with prisoners sentenced from those counties west of Interstate 355, and north of Interstate 80.

Then go ahead and build the bunker completely underground at Grant/Millenium Park, with no daylight except for the grand entrance on Randolph St. This new facility could also cover the cost of the parking garage renovations as well as the new shared facility field house as well.

Instead of using it for the Children’s Museum they can operate that as a new “state of the art” state penitentiary instead.

All the guards from Joliet can keep their Will County jobs based on seniority and preference, but the workplace would simply be relocated downtown, and supplemented by the inter-city job corps. The boys and girls from Joliet could then just hop the Rock Island downtown. Just think of the money they would save on gas!

All newly sentenced prisoners from Cook County could be sentenced exclusively to the new underground penitentiary in under Grant Park. That way their families would not suffer the undue hardship of having to travel a long way just to visit them.

Juveniles would be strictly prohibited from the new Grant Park underground prison; even if charged, tried, and convicted as adults, because it appears that they just don’t want kids in the neighborhood there at all. The Near east side neighbors

If he survives the federales, Tony Rezko could be granted the concession at the Grant Park Penitentiary vistors Center, (designed and developed under a no bid contract by Wilton Partners. These concessions could assist Tony in order to assist him in recovering his good name. He could put in a Panda Express and and Papa Johns, and open up to the general public as well so people in the area can drop in anytime. They can also offer delivery service to the nearby residents.

Everybody’s happy now, except for the folks out in Thomson, but they’ve got nothing now. If they can’t ramp this up as a new prison, maybe they can turn that facility into a Children’s Museum that could serve as a regional attraction and draw people in from far and wide.

Comment by Birdman from Alcatraz Monday, May 5, 08 @ 9:45 pm
This is all just another hammer ploy by Blago while the AFSCME negotiations are going on.

He did the same thing back in 2004. Threaten to close Vandaila, beat it over the unions head, reconsiders at last minute if AFSCME agrees to somewhat of a lessor contract. Deal Done.

Comment by anon Monday, May 5, 08 @ 10:01 pm
T-Rex, Wilhelmi was told about this after the recall vote. Read the memo. The date is on it.

Comment by Rich Miller Monday, May 5, 08 @ 10:44 pm
Prisoners have less chance of recidivism if they keep in contact with their families; they are not alone upon release. Because Stateville is closer to Cook County (where the majority of inmates are from), it is easier for family members to visit there than Pontiac. This is one factor that should be considered. That is the bad thing about Thomson — it is clear across the State.

Comment by Anon Monday, May 5, 08 @ 11:19 pm
I am the last person to agree with the Governor, but something has to give with the budget. Those in the know, know that the older prisons are a money siphon and take tremendous amounts of money to operate and maintain. Thomson is brand new and has never (or barely) been used. Open it and close one of the older ones. It’s time to stop thinking of prisons as some sort of entitlement program.

Comment by RJW Monday, May 5, 08 @ 11:58 pm
Daley’s pushing so hard for the CCM proposal because, as he always does, he has an ulterior motive. In fact, he has THREE:

1. Push cars back into the underutilized Grant & Millennium Park garages;

2. Clear off Navy Pier so that the city-owned casino he wants so badly can be built there; and,

3. Break “Aldermanic prerogative” once and for all so that he can build the Olympic Village and facilities where he wants, how he wants, without interference from aldermen or residents.

The REAL question is this: Given that Aldermanic preregoative is the only power the City Council has NOT voted to take away from itself, why would ANY alderman choose to neuter himself by voting for the CCM proposal?

They’d be slitting their own throats.

Comment by Daley's Ulterior Motives Tuesday, May 6, 08 @ 5:40 am