No real surprise here today. The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability released it’s recommendations this morning about which state facilities it believes that Governor Pat Quinn is justified in closing. The position taken by the CGFA is conservative and so, most of it’s recommendations are not likely to be high regarded by Quinn who will still make the final decision regarding any closures.

The Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability voted 7-3 Tuesday against closing prisons in Tamms and Dwight. It also advised against closing Tamms Correctional Center, Dwight Correctional Center, Illinois Youth Center at Joliet, Westside Adult Transition Center, Peoria Adult Transition Center, Warren G. Murray Developmental Center. The only facility the CGFA recommends closure for is a state DCFS office in Skokie, IL, although even that office and workers will be moved to another state-owned building. COGFA also clarified previous that it’s previous votes stand against closures of the Singer & Tinley Mental hospitals, Jax DC, and the Murphysboro Youth Center.

Commission votes to keep Murray Center and Tamms open.

There has been a lot of public and agency input and fact-finding about Governor Pat Quinn’s desire to close all these State facilities in the hopes of saving the State some money. Given the sinals that Quinn has put out recently about his intent to push forward with pension and medicaid cuts,  Quinn is still likely to close some if not all of these state facilities despite the CGFA recommendations. Especially since some public and professional support for at least two types of facility closures has developed over the past few months.

Forget that most if not all of the relatives of inmates who are or have been imprisoned in the Tamms Supermax prison and the ACLU want Tamms closed  because of the  alleged human rights violations committed there daily. There has been a groundswell of other voices pointing out that the closure of Tamms simply makes economic sense, and that it’s closure won’t affect public safety. Closing Tamms despite union opposition has to look pretty attractive to Governor Quinn given that, at the minimum, the State will have another opportunity to sell another state prison for money:

Our Opinion: It simply costs too much to run Tamms

Thoughts on today’s Tamms editorial

Some health experts and families are also siding with Quinn in support of the closure of four of the state’s eight developmental centers. They may be giving Quinn too much credit in attributing his plan to an overriding desire to empower persons with disabilities, but their support is likely to result in some closures.

Quinn facility closure plan hailed by activists