The budget now before the governor includes funding to keep the Tamms Super Maximum security prison open along with the Illinois youth Center in Murphysboro and the Murray Developmental Center in Centralia.
Governor Quinn wants to close those facilities and others across the state as a budget cutting measure. It's not clear if the governor will approve the funding to keep those state facilities open. The Governor has slated Tamms and the Murphysboro youth center to close by the end of the summer. An economic impact study indicates that closing Tamms, the youth center, and the Murray center would result in an overall loss of more than one-thousand jobs and 70-million dollars in wages for the southern Illinois region.