Illinois State Police investigators Tuesday visited Tamms “super max” prison to question employees about recent leaks to the media. The Capitol Fax blog broke news of the development Tuesday afternoon. It was unclear then who asked for an investigation, but a spokeswoman for Gov. Pat Quinn denied that it was he.
Anders Lindall, spokesman for the union that represents corrections employees, thought it was the governor, anyway. Lindall told Illinois Watchdog in an email Tuesday afternoon the union is “very disturbed that Gov. Quinn would use State Police resources to prevent rank-and-file employees from exercising their legal rights and stifle criticism of his dangerous rush to close state prisons."
Slated for closure are prisons in Tamms and Dwight; adult transition centers in Carbondale, Chicago and Decatur; and youth centers in Joliet and Murphysboro. AFSCME representing corrections personnel has requested a temporary restraining order to stop inmate transfers and other closure activities already in motion. A hearing before a circuit judge is scheduled this morning in Cairo.
Meanwhile, seven inmates at the Tamms prison in far southern Illinois are trying to get a lawsuit thrown out of court. The inmates argue conditions at Tamms are so bad now that closing the facility will not cause an increase in violence in prisons throughout the state as the correctional officers have asserted.
You can read Jayette's full report at: http://watchdog.org/47191/il-judge-to-consider-restraining-order-to-stop-prison-closures-wednesday/
2 comments:
Good reporting on all articles, Pete. Thanks.
I appreciate the compliment, but all I did was edit this one.--ed.
Post a Comment