Illinois commission expects earful on prison plan

PONTIAC -- A state commission considering a plan to close a central Illinois prison expects to hear from dozens of people at a public hearing.

Most are expected to tell the commission that closing the 137-year-old Pontiac Correctional Center will devastate the city from which it takes its name. The hearing is at 5 p.m. at Pontiac Township High School.

Governor Rod Blagojevich wants to close the prison and move the 1,600 inmates to a prison in the western Illinois community of Thomson. The governor says that will save money.

But Mayor Scott McCoy says the move would take away Pontiac's second-largest employer. More than 500 people work in the prison.

Pontiac is a city of 12,000 residents about 40 miles northeast of Bloomington.