Prison Debate of 1977

The History Center will NOT be open this Sunday November 16.

Early in 1977, Governor James Thompson announced that two additional medium-security prisons would be built in Illinois to ease over-crowding  by a rapidly growing prison population. The population had exploded from 5,980 inmates in July 1973, to 10,450 inmates in 1977.  Besides the inmate population explosion, updates were needed to present facilities to support the current over-crowding.

The new medium-security prisons would each house 500 inmates and each provide 300-325 jobs, plus have an additional  positive economic impact. The investment cost of each prison would be 20-30 million dollars.

The Bi-state Authority at George Field offered 160 acres of farm ground on Allison Prairie for the prison site. Under the leadership of then Illinois 23rd District Representative Roscoe D Cunningham and many County officials and residents, several months of tireless work was done to bring a prison to the county.

There was, of course, controversy over a prison being built in the county.  Most of Allison Prairie residents and farmers were unhappy about taking away productive farmland and voiced concerns about safety and security for their families. However, other county residents and many county leaders such as Mayor Gerald Harper, the mayors of Bridgeport and Sumner, and many local business leaders worked in favor of the prison for potential economic growth stimulus.

In the end, Governor Thompson made the decision in October 1977 to build the prisons in Hillsboro and Centralia Illinois.

A medium-security state prison was eventually constructed in Lawrence County near Sumner in 2001.

(Research by Julia Randall , Daily Record and Bridgeport Leader newspapers)

This button was supposedly worn by those supporting a 'super maximum' prison site.