Illinois officials open Pontiac prison to news media

PONTIAC — The Illinois Department of Corrections is opening the maximum-security prison in Pontiac to news media Friday.

Reporters will see the inside of one of the state’s tougher prisons — and one of the oldest. Part of the Livingston County facility opened in 1871.

The Associated Press requested a tour of Pontiac in August after Gov. Pat Quinn announced that inmates displaced by closing the supermaximum-security Tamms prison would be securely housed there. Quinn closed Tamms in January and earlier this week emptied the women’s maximum-security lockup in Dwight to save the state money.

Corrections officials — backed by the Democratic governor — for months rejected the AP’s requests and those by WBEZ Radio in Chicago to visit other prisons. They said letting outsiders in jeopardized security.