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Attention, all Illinois editors!

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The Associated Press has posted a document containing the executive summary of a state-commissioned report on how many prisoners the Illinois Department of Corrections is expected to have to house by 2016 and the cost of accommodating them. […]

How to get to the document:

1. Go to this Web site: http://onlinenews.ap.org/state–ftp. (We recommend both bookmarking and printing this page so you have the directions handy).

2. Once at the ftp://ftp.ap.org site, you will be asked for a username and password. Contact the supervisor in the Chicago bureau (312-781-0500) for those details.

2a. If you have trouble with Internet Explorer, try using Windows Explorer (right click on My Computer and choose ‘explore,’ then type in the ftp://ftp.ap.org site)

3. As noted in the directions, scroll down to StateLevel and open it.

4. Scroll down again and open the IL link (for Illinois).

5. You should see choices for documents, audio and video. In this case, choose documents and look for the NATION’S BRIDGES-ILLINOIS folder. The XLS file is there.

* If any news editors are having trouble following those AP instructions, just click here instead.

You see, the Bloomington Pantagraph broke the story first this morning…

In a lengthy report that was kept under wraps by the Blagojevich administration for over a year, consultants say the state will need more than 54,000 beds for inmates within the next eight years. Currently, there are 51,300 available beds within Illinois Department of Corrections facilities.

“IDOC would need another 2,735 beds by end-of-2016 to meet projected population demand,” the taxpayer-funded report notes.

Corrections spokesman Derek Schnapp said the agency disagrees with the findings. He says internal growth projections don’t show a need for additional bed space. […]

The $411,000 study, which was completed in September 2007, was released at the request of lawmakers as part of Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s push to close the 1,600-bed Pontiac Correctional Center, which officials say will save about $8 million over two years.

The department had previously ignored numerous requests to make the study public. […]

The report, conducted by Peoria-based engineering firm PSA Dewberry, found that even if Thomson is opened, the sprawling prison system will have a shortage of beds in the coming years.

The Pantagraph posted the document online. No super-secret AP decoder ring needed. Just one click and it’s yours!

* Also, just in case you’re looking around for it, the Commission on Government Forecasting & Accountability report on the Pontiac prison closure is at this link.

Comments

Now is that just an executive summary or did we pay all that money for an 11 page report?

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 3:50 pm
OneMan:
Looking at the Table of Contents, I’m pretty sure that the linked report is merely the Executive Summary to a far larger report.

Comment by SafetyAlways Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 4:04 pm
Nothing like throwing away 400k on a study because you don’t like the outcome. Oh DOC has so much to throw away too!!!

Comment by He Makes Ryan Look Like a Saint Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 4:08 pm
SafetyAlways….

That’s kind of what I figured but the fun is always in the details.

Comment by OneMan Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 4:09 pm
One of the things I have never seen referenced in any of the studies to decide which prisons should be left open or closed and where new ones should be built is the cost of transporting prisoners to their many court dates. I was told by a IDOC employee that was one of the reasons prisoners were never moved to Thomson from the Joilet. The cost of transporting them to Cook County for their many court appearances was prohibitive. Rather than look for which area in the State is depressed and needs a correctional Center we should be looking for areas closest to the courts the prisoners need to get to for their appearances.

Comment by Irish Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 4:12 pm
What is the reference to losing economic activity to Iowa about? (And should the “value” of economic activity ever be the reason for keeping a prison open or closed? Talk about your penal-industrial complex!)

Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 4:38 pm
None of the stated arguments have anything to do with hurting Sen. Dan Rutherford, a leading Republican Senate fund raiser.

Pontiac is being hurt for purely political reasons, just as the Springfield area is for its Republican senator and its two Republican House members.

Comment by Capitol View Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 4:44 pm
So, how much did PSA Dewberry contribute to the cause?

Comment by Just wondering Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 4:54 pm
CV has it right on this. On the other hand, there can be different figures for projected inmate population depending on whether you include members of the current administration.

Comment by Excessively rabid Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 5:31 pm
The opening and closing of state prisons, mental health, etc … Has always been a very political and NIMBY process. I remember when big Jim was converting the mental heath facilities to prisons in the 80’s so whats with the shock and outrage now nothing has changed.

Comment by Annon Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 5:52 pm
I was excited when I saw the headline b/c I thought we would finally get to see the $400K+ staffing study the Gov’s office ordered of DOC facilities years ago. But that’s not this study. That staffing study was never released … presumably b/c it would have called for greater staffing levels. DOC hasn’t wasted just $400K on a study, they’ve wasted over $800K on studies they disagree with or refuse to release. Bad or costly news is never discussed under Gov Press Release.

Comment by Zeke Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 6:21 pm
$400 grand? Sweet. I could have told you that ever tougher laws, natural population growth, and ancient prisons would necessitate new prisons.

For half, I could have done it.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 6:22 pm
–”And should the “value” of economic activity ever be the reason for keeping a prison open or closed? “–

Why not? IDOT’s new goal is the S.IL economy and Rod makes no bones about that move is partly to bring jobs to that area. So why is Pontiac Prison any different? One can’t squeal it’s wrong to save a community’s economics over a prison then turn around and cheer it on when the TS move is to help another area’s economy.

Comment by Princess Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 6:28 pm
The Harvey Rose Firm from California did a IDOC staffing efficeincy study about 4 years ago. The cost was over 400K. The administration refused to release the study to the public. Senator John O. Jones filed a FOIA request and to my knowledge it was denied because the governor’s office claimed the report was incomplete(code for being revised to meet their needs). I am a DOC employee and I was interviewed 2 different times by the Rose staff. I am currently a mid-level manager with 16 years experience in the IDOC. I started as a Correctional Officer and have been promoted 3 times, without patronage. In the interviews I was candid and honest. The interviewers asked direct questions and requested hard data, which I provided. They told me that in my dept and division that we were terribly under-staffed. I suspect that this assessment made it in to the final report. Governor Blagojevich and his administration is dishonest and un-ethical. They hide or distort information from the GA and the public. In many cases they have out right lied about the status of many state agencies. In the IDOC a perfect storm is brewing and I hope and pray that many staff are not injured or killed when it erupts. The public should demand answers from the governor about how poorly he has run the IDOC, and they should come before a full-scale right brings down the media.

Comment by southern illinoisan Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 8:07 pm
If you think that IDOC is the only depatrment that was required to spend money on consultations about whether or not the state could save money by closing facilities or downsizing or privatizing, etc. You should see how much money has DHS spent on consultation for DD centers in the past few years. They didn’t like the results of the first set of consults so they had another one done. Too bad the general public hasn’t seen the results of any of these.

It isn’t pretty and not on the end of the people who do the direct care work. People at the top should be ashamed…..

If I’m correct, $400 grand is a small amount.

Comment by Wickedred Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 8:58 pm
And this is news? At CMS they hire consultants to do studies, where they ask the staff what is going on and what should be done, (nothing new, just that management never listened to their own people who were already being paid to tell them the same things as the consultants) and the result of the study is always a recommendation that the company that did the study take over and run whatever it was studying. Amazing, who’d ever have guessed? Consultants and studies IMO are often used as cheap and easy ways to pay off friends and donors.

Comment by Kremlinologist Thursday, Sep 25, 08 @ 9:42 pm
The economic value should not be the sole factor in deciding if a state facility should remain open or close, but the Governor’s arguments of needing to close Pontiac to save money ring pretty hollow when you consider that the proposed move will take $55 million out of the Central Illinois economy, but only add maybe $25 to $30 million to the economy around Thomson. The rest of the money (and maybe even more) will be going to Iowa.

If Thomson opens as it was intended to (without forcing the closure of any other facility), its all good. Even if part of the economic gains go across the border to Iowa, whatever you gain is more than you had. But if you are economically devastating another region of the state to open Thomson, any responsible adult can see that you have to compare and balance the loss to one region to the gain to the other. In that equation, every dollar that goes to Iowa is a dollar out of Illinois’ revenue stream that we cannot afford to lose.

Comment by wordsmith Friday, Sep 26, 08 @ 5:06 am