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Public Hearing On Pontiac Prison Re-scheduledBy Tom Kocal, TKocal@PACC-news.com A public hearing about the proposed closing of the Pontiac Correctional Center, originally set for Tuesday, Aug. 12, has been re-scheduled. Timothy M. McLean, Chief, Office of Intergovernmental Relations, said the new date will be Wed., August 20th. "Given that Pontiac has few locations that could accommodate such a crowd, the commission hearing will take place in the Pontiac Township High School gymnasium at 1100 Indiana Ave., the location for the original meeting," McLean said. Governor Rod Blagojevich has proposed closing Pontiac, one of the oldest maximum security prisons in Illinois. The plan is to transfer inmates to the Thomson Correctional Center. Blagojevich had initially called for the closing of Stateville Prison in Joliet, but the plan was met with indifference from Joliet-area legislators, citizens, and prison workers. Opponents in Pontiac use the argument that closing the century-old prison will hurt the economy of the surrounding area. Proponents of opening the Thomson Prison have been using the same argument in reverse for over 6 years. McLean told The Prairie Advocate News that the "Pontiac Prison is over 100 years old, and has already had over $108 million in capital improvements deferred. The only viable way to open the new Thomson Correctional Center is to close Pontiac." Officials with the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Union (AFSCME) says that closing Pontiac will only create more overcrowding in an already unsafe situation in the maximum-security prisons.
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