Governor Pat Quinn's budget cuts that will force the closure of the Tamms Supermax prison and other state facilities will stand.
The Illinois House did not consider an override vote Wednesday before adjourning on the last day of veto session. A spokesman for House Speaker Michael Madigan says the speaker didn't think it was necessary action to take. Last week, the Senate voted to reject cuts of $56 million to funds for the Tamms high-security prison, the Dwight Correctional Center, the Illinois Youth Center in Murphysboro, the Glass House Transition Center in Carbondale and other sites.
Quinn opposed the override. He called Wednesday's decision by House members not to call for a vote a victory for taxpayers. Quinn wants to use the money to help improve child-protection program funding. The Governor says Tamms and the other correctional facilities are underutilized and that developmentally disabled residents in state institutions would fare better in community settings.
A group of southern Illinois community leaders held a rally Wednesday morning at the state capitol in front of the governor's office. The effort , coordinated in part by the Southern Illinois Mayors' Association, was aimed at delivering a message to the Governor and state lawmakers to keep Tamms and the other facilities open. The group says most of the facilities targeted for closing are in southern Illinois in a region that can not sustain the economic loss that losing those jobs would create.
