“No layoffs…no chaos” was the chant from the top of the famous stone sign outside the prison as Stateville employees say they want to see the Illinois reconsider its decision to close this 99-year-old facility.
“We are looking at people being forced to be laid off and people having to move further from the Chicagoland area” said Eugene Washington, The president of AFSCME Local 1866. “A lot of people working at Stateville are from the Chicagoland area and they have to be forced to move hours away from the already hour traffic they have now.”
The futures of the 900 people employed at Stateville were cast into uncertainty after a judge ordered this crumbling facility closed after one inmate died and others filed suit about crumbling walls, rusting ceilings and unsanitary water.
Former inmate Eric Blackman said the conditions at Stateville made him sick.
“After months of these conditions, black mold started to form on the ceiling,” he said.
At a rally today on the grounds of the prison, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees insisted the best course forward is not to close Stateville.
“We are here to save lives of the individuals incarcerated here and we are trying to save lives of employees who work here,” said Roberta Lynch of AFSCME Council 31.
The Pritzker administration had planned to spend more than a billion dollars to rebuild Stateville and the Logan Correctional Center in Lincoln, Illinois, but employees worry they may be left out of any new prison plans.
“I would like to see Stateville continue to stay open,” said Eugene Washington. “If they are going to rebuild a prison, build a new prison and we will move to the new prison,” he said. We have plenty of space here on the grounds of Stateville.”
The state of Illinois has been moving inmates out of Stateville and into other facilities over the past few months. This facility, designed for more than 4,000 in 1925, now houses only 440 inmates. According to the union, the plan is to have them gone by the end of September.