DECATUR - Although Decatur-area prisons have not been targeted for closure by state officials this year, some Republican lawmakers went to Decatur Correctional Center on Tuesday to urge Gov. Rod Blagojevich to embrace their proposal for a moratorium on all correctional facility shutdowns.

The news conference outside the medium-security women's prison was part of a series of stops Sen. Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, and Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, are making this week to bring attention to their concerns about the lack of clear plans for the state's correctional facilities.

Earlier this year, the state announced it would close a portion of the Stateville Correctional Center near Joliet before quickly changing course to announce Pontiac's prison was on the chopping block instead in a move some criticized as having been politically motivated.

The Stateville facility is located in the district of a Democratic senator who voted against a provision to "recall" Blagojevich, while Rutherford voted in favor of the measure shortly before the change was announced.

"One of the things that's been a particular concern to us has been over the past few years this administration has made announcements about closing correctional centers without any real strategic planning or any long-range preparation," Rutherford said.

Other facilities such as the prison in Vandalia have also been targeted for closure by the governor in recent years, but his attempts thus far have been thwarted by state lawmakers who budgeted funding for the prisons anyway.

Rutherford and Radogno said they want the governor to put a hold on any prison closings until a panel can be convened create a long-range plan for the corrections system similar to what the state creates to assess and detail its transportation needs.

Radogno also noted that whatever savings the state may argue are realized through closures may be negligible when you consider the costs to the community where the shuttered prison is forced to cope with the loss of a major employer.

Illinois Department of Corrections spokesman Derek Schnapp said that while prisons may provide economic benefits to the places where they are located "that should not be the primary reason to continue to operate a facility."

Schnapp said when state officials decide to close facilities they do so taking efficiency and public safety into full consideration.

He argued older facilities such as the one at Pontiac, which has been open since the 1870s, drain resources because they are more difficult to maintain.