PONTIAC - The Illinois Department of Corrections transferred 50 inmates from Pontiac Correctional Center on Friday, a move some fear is the first step in closing Pontiac's prison. | Judge denies request to stall transfers

Corrections spokesman Derek Schnapp said the transfer to minimum-security East Moline Correctional Center was completed by early afternoon. Another 50 are expected to be transferred next week to a minimum-security facility in Taylorville.

American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31, which is suing to stop plans to close the 1,600-bed, maximum-security lockup, contends the transfers are dangerous.

Schnapp disagreed.

"Safety and security is our No. 1 priority, and we transfer inmates to facilities that we think are the appropriate setting for the inmate and the agency," he said.

Opponents of the closure plan promised Friday to continue the fight.

"I will continue to work with the administration and with the governor to continue to show that there is a need for Pontiac and a need for the overall safety and security in the state," state Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, said. "We want to do whatever it takes, and the prison is still in operation so we are not giving up and not waiting."

Gov. Rod Blagojevich announced in May that he wants to close Pontiac prison by early 2009, but the Department of Corrections still has not officially notified AFSCME about the closure plan, Rutherford said.

"(Blagojevich) is the one person in this whole thing that can stop this, and he is the one person in this whole thing that we haven't talked to yet," Rutherford said.

AFSCME questions whether inmates are being reclassified correctly for minimum security, and it says East Moline and Taylorville prisons already are overcrowded.

Pontiac's prison holds mostly maximum-security prisoners, but those going to East Moline and Taylorville either were classified for minimum security already or will be reclassified, prison officials said. The maximum-security inmates would go to an unused prison at Thomson under the DOC plan.

"Nothing has changed as far as the criteria on which they are reclassified," Schnapp said. "Inmates go through an assessment period frequently throughout their incarceration in DOC, and we have staff at every facility."

AFSCME spokesman Anders Lindall said reclassification is based on the offense, behavior, mental state and gang affiliation.

"East Moline and Taylorville are not equipped to deal with these offenders appropriately," he said. "There are any number of factors that go into making a classification, and they seem to be disregarded by the department."

According to the Department of Corrections Web site, both East Moline and Taylorville are nearly at double capacity. Lindall said AFSCME is concerned about moving inmates to already crowded facilities.

Schnapp dismissed those concerns.

"Safety and security is the reason we are doing this, and obviously there have to be beds available before they are transferred," he said.

Friday's transfer came two days after a judge rejected an AFSCME request for a temporary restraining order to block the transfers while its lawsuit it pending.

Citing a 2002 appellate court ruling, Ford County Circuit Judge Stephen Pacey denied the request. Lindall said the union filed an appeal Friday in the 4th District Appellate Court.