A judge in southern Illinois has issued an order temporarily prohibiting Governor Pat Quinn from closing correctional facilities.
In a statement Tuesday, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees says Circuit Judge Charles Cavaness in Alexander County granted the state employee union's request for a temporary restraining order. AFSCME regional director Eddie Caumiant says this is a win for the union. The order keeps Quinn from closing prisons in Tamms and Dwight, three halfway houses, including one in Carbondale, and youth detention centers in Murphysboro and Joliet. Governor Quinn wanted most of the facilities closed Friday, but the arbitrator gave both sides a month to come to an agreement. Caumiant says there will also be a schedule drawn up on AFSCME's injunction halting the transfer of inmates. He says Judge Cavaness will have a status hearing on the matter later this week.
Meanwhile, the legal fight between Governor Pat Quinn and the union that represents prisons workers continues this week in courtrooms at opposite ends of the state. On the day that Governor Quinn wanted the prisons closed last week, an arbitrator said the administration violated its contract with the prison workers’ union by moving to close the facilities before they’d finished what’s called “impact bargaining.” Union spokesman Anders Lindall says impact bargaining doesn’t only affect employees facing layoffs. He says its also the impact of the closure on those employees that would remain behind. Lindall says the union is extremely concerned about the safety of employees left in overcrowded prisons. The arbitrator says the parties should finish negotiations within 30 days. The Quinn administration says it’ll go before a judge in Cook County asking to have the arbitrator’s ruling overturned. In a written statement, the Quinn administration says it remains committed to saving money by closing what it calls “half-full,” “outdated” and “expensive” facilities.
