SPRINGFIELD - A plan aimed at stopping Gov. Rod Blagojevich from closing Pontiac Correctional Center has gained the support of a top Senate Democrat.

Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson, D-Crete, has signed on as a co-sponsor of legislation that would impose a moratorium on prison closings.

Halvorson, who is running for Congress in Illinois' 11th district, could help shepherd the Republican proposal through the Democrat-controlled Senate.

Halvorson is a key ally of Senate President Emil Jones, D-Chicago, who controls what legislation is voted on in the Senate.

Details of the proposed moratorium are expected to be released during a press conference in Springfield Thursday.

The proposal was hastily drafted after Blagojevich, a Democrat from Chicago, turned his sights on Pontiac after agreeing not to move forward with his earlier plan to close the maximum-security portion of the Stateville Correctional Center.

Blagojevich wants to shutter Pontiac by January for a savings of $4 million to $5 million. The inmates would be transferred to the state's unused prison in Thomson, north of the Quad-Cities.

State Sen. Dan Rutherford, R-Chenoa, says the moratorium proposal would stop the governor from randomly attempting to close prisons.

Instead, the administration would have to lay out something akin to a five-year plan for the state's prisons. That way, communities could prepare for the day when large state institutions are closed.

"This isn't trying to be confrontational with the governor. It would help with the planning," Rutherford said.

"We have to take a look at the whole system," Halvorson said.

State Sen. Christine Radogno, R-Lemont, also is backing the plan.

"We're seeking to avoid the upheaval the governor keeps visiting on these communities," Radogno said. "It's just good policy."

The legislation is House bill 1235.