PONTIAC - Two lawmakers will tour Illinois prison towns this summer to gain support for a moratorium on prison closures.

State Republican Sens. Dan Rutherford of Chenoa and Christine Radogno of Lemont announced their plan Monday in front of Dwight Correctional Center. They planned to head north to visit communities impacted by Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet.

Rutherford said he and Radogno would visit with opinion-makers and media in a bid to keep Pontiac Correctional Center open.

"We wanted to have (Dwight Correctional Center) has our first stop in the statewide tour, and we want to make it known very well that this has happened to Stateville, is now happening to Pontiac, at one time happened to (Vandalia Correctional Center) and it could happen to Dwight," he said. "This is why we need to reach out beyond our Central Illinois area."

The pair wants a stop to all prison closures until a long-term plan is in place, but the moratorium is now up to Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Rutherford said the senators met with Blagojevich for four hours but the governor wouldn't commit to a moratorium.

In early May, Blagojevich said he planned to close the Pontiac prison and transfer inmates to a facility in Thomson. Legislators and local officials said the closure could leave 600 people without jobs, continue the problem of overcrowded prisons and economically cripple the county.

Radogno said the decision happened with no warning - and apparently no thought behind it.

"This is a pattern that we are seeing from this administration that demonstrates a lack of planning for a really large and important department in the state," she said. "Prisons are very important within their communities and I've learned that each and every time there has been a proposed closing because the communities spring up and say that our businesses and homes … are all going to be impacted by this."

Funding for all prisons was included in the state budget sent to the governor, so Rutherford said a long-term study should cause no harm.

In a statement, American Federation State, County and Municipal Employees spokesman Anders Lindall said a commission doesn't need to say the prison system is overcrowded and understaffed, and lawmakers need to focus on adequate funding.

"Concerned legislators should focus on the safety and integrity of the prison system as a whole. That means not just blocking closures but also making prisons safer by restoring the thousands of security staff positions that have been cut, reinvesting in inmate education, job training and mental health treatment programs that have been slashed, and ending the gross abuse of forced overtime that burns officers and wastes millions of taxpayer dollars," he said.