State Senators Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro), Jil Tracy (R-Quincy), and Paul Jacobs (R-Pomona) issued the following joint statement in response to the Illinois Department of Corrections’ planned closure of the Clayton Work Camp, Dixon Springs Structured Impact Program, DuQuoin Impact Program, and Greene County Work Camp:
“This announcement is the latest betrayal of Southern and Downstate Illinois by a Governor and an Administration that have repeatedly demonstrated that they have little regard for the people, employees, and communities outside of the Chicago region.
“For years, the Governor and IDOC have played games with the future of these facilities. Individuals in custody were removed from DuQuoin and Dixon Springs, yet the Administration continued to maintain that these programs had not been permanently closed. These facilities were being allowed to die while the people of Southern Illinois were being told otherwise. Now, after years of excuses, evasions, and bureaucratic word games, they are finally making official what their own actions had already made painfully clear.
“That history makes it incredibly difficult to take anything this Administration says about these closures at face value. You cannot spend years telling lawmakers, employees, and communities one thing, quietly allow facilities and programs to wither away, and then expect everyone to accept the final closure announcement as though this outcome became unavoidable. This looks less like responsible management and more like a calculated strategy of neglect designed to make closure the inevitable outcome.
“It is difficult to take this Administration’s commitment to restorative justice and rehabilitation seriously when it is closing programs designed to advance those very goals. Impact programs and work camps are intended to provide structure, programming, work experience, and opportunities for successful reentry. Yet, the Governor is choosing to eliminate them while continuing his Administration’s pattern of taking state facilities and jobs away from Southern and Downstate Illinois.
“Our communities are not disposable, and we refuse to accept more lip service and excuses. The Governor and IDOC owe the employees, families, and communities impacted by these decisions real answers about why these facilities were allowed to deteriorate, what alternatives were considered, and why Southern and Downstate Illinois are once again being asked to pay the price for this Administration’s failures. We intend to fight these closures and demand those answers.”