VIENNA - A judge on Tuesday approved a temporary restraining order on prisoner movements out of Pontiac Correctional Center. The ruling by Judge James Williamson in Johnson County Circuit Court does not prevent movements of prisoners scheduled for transfer because of good behavior. | Pontiac mayor goes on the attack with parolee stats | VIDEO: McCoy's press conference

It only affects prisoners being transferred because of the planned closing of Pontiac.

With an eye on closing the maximum-security prison this year, the state has begun transferring prisoners out of Pontiac. Under the governor's plan, the prison will be replaced by a newer, mostly unused lockup in Thomson, north of the Quad-Cities. But Thomson cannot take all of Pontiac's 1,600 prisoners.

So far, prisoners have already been moved to medium and minimum security facilities, including Vienna in Johnson County.

Council 31 of the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees filed the complaint against the state's Department of Corrections. The union contends moving some of the Pontiac prisoners into mediumand minimum-security prisons poses a safety threat to its members.

Stephen Yokich, an attorney representing the union, said many of the Pontiac prisoners are segregated because of assaults on staff members or are even death-row inmates. He said moving those men to lower security prisons presents risk to correctional staff. He contends some of the locations do not even have towers or areas where a guard with a gun can be posted.

"There is no way you can take these 800 inmates and put them in single cells in other facilities," Yokich said during the proceeding.

Terence Corrigan of the attorney general's office argued that because of another lawsuit on the docket for Friday in Livingston County, Tuesday's hearing was unnecessary. Because there are no transfers planned this week, he argued the union's claim did not merit a separate lawsuit.

Williamson, however, found there was a possibility of irreparable harm and ruled in favor of the union.

Because of the approaching Thanksgiving holiday, the restraining order will be in place until Dec. 1. The judge then will decide whether to dismiss the case or issue a preliminary injunction.

Buddy Maupin, regional director for AFSCME Council 31, said the ruling was much needed because of the dangers to correctional staff.

"It creates an environment where our members can get hurt or killed," Maupin said.

A spokesman for the Department of Corrections had not seen the order, but said the state will do what the judge tells it to do.

"The bottom line is we're going to follow the court order," Derek Schnapp said.

The department and Gov. Rod Blagojevich are closing the prison in Pontiac, about 40 miles northeast of Bloomington, to save what it says will be $4 million a year over the next two years.

But political leaders from the Pontiac area and the union are trying to keep the prison open to save the 570 jobs it provides. The facility is the town's second-largest employer.

Local leaders also accuse Blagojevich of closing the prison to punish political rivals from the Pontiac area who supported a failed recall measure aimed at the governor.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.