Legislator: closing state facilities wrong

A Southern Illinois legislator continues to voice his opposition, and his concerns, to the closing of state corrections facilities.

State Sen. Gary Forby, D-Benton, says that the closing of the facilities is a very bad move.

"In the final weeks of 2012, the prison transfers from Tamms Correctional Center were completed and the prison is now being prepared for closure," Forby said in a Jan. 7 news release.

"I have said it before and I’ll say it again, I believe the closure of this and the other corrections facilities here in Illinois is a very bad move by the governor."

In addition to the overcrowding issues at the remaining institutions, Forby said that another fear he has  "is for the safety of the officers and the other inmates now lumped together with super-max offenders."

"Many of these offenders have now been moved from Tamms to Pontiac, where they first caused many of these problems.

"Tamms was built as a place to house these types of offenders. It is always a disproportionate few that cause the most problems, but in a prison system, allowing these inmates to co-exist with general population could mean riots and even death.

"Now we have a system that is grossly oversaturated and we’ve added more than 100 safety risk inmates.  Although the Department of Corrections claims that the population can be safely and securely managed, I find that hard to believe given the violent history of these inmates.

"I fear that the governor may not realize how wrong this decision is until it is too late."