Those with Illinois law enforcement jobs will be happy to know that Pontiac Correctional Center will remain open, despite recent controversy.

Gov. Pat Quinn recently announced that he will keep the center open, as it provides 600 jobs and generates about $54.4 million in revenue for the area. Former Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich had announced that the center would close by the end of 2008.

“Especially in these tough economic times, we must be more fiscally responsible,” Quinn said in a press release. “Keeping Pontiac Correctional Center open will ensure nearly 600 people in the region keep their jobs, prevent hundreds of families from being uprooted, and allow Pontiac to maintain one of its largest sources of revenue.”

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Some workers were lucky enough to secure Illinois law enforcement jobs, but state residents are complaining their posts are unnecessary.

The State of Illinois recently announced that 208 prison guards had been hired, a move that is putting some people in an uproar after the state decided to cut other positions because of budget complications. According to an article by The Associated Press, the Department of Corrections hired the employees to work at the Thomson Correctional Center at a cost of $10.8 million for the first year of work.

The workers were tapped to provide security at the prison, which is located in northwestern Illinois, for inmates being transferred from Pontiac Prison. Pontiac Prison is slated to close in an effort to save $4 million per year. However, the prison is currently still open because of a lawsuit filed by union officials.

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Hundreds of Illinois law enforcement jobs are in question as a union and the State of Illinois are at legal odds with one another.

The Illinois Department of Corrections is planning to close the Pontiac Correctional Center by the end of the year, a move that could eliminate 570 jobs and save $4 million per year. However, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees recently filed a lawsuit against the IDOC to stop it from closing the facility and cutting jobs. According to an article by the Fort Mill Times, the prison is the town’s second-largest employer.

The state plans to move inmates from Pontiac, which is a maximum-security prison, to smaller prisons not built to handle maximum-security prisoners. Many of Pontiac’s 1,600 prisoners have been reclassified from medium-security to minimum-security and transfered to minimum-security prisons such as the Vienna Correctional Center in Johnson County and other prisons in Moline and Taylorville. Half of the inmates will be moved to a prison in Thomson.

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