Quinn: Pontiac Prison Will Stay Open

Gov. Pat Quinn has decided to keep the Pontiac Correctional Center open.

Quinn's decision today reverses ousted Gov. Rod Blagojevich's plan to close the 137-year-old prison. In a news release today, Quinn cited the need to save jobs. The prison is one of the Pontiac area's largest employers with more than 500 workers.

Last year, Blagojevich announced plans to close the prison and move many of its more than 1,500 inmates to the largely unused Thomson Correctional Center in western Illinois to save money. Lawmakers and others from the Pontiac area believed Blagojevich was using the decision to punish them for opposing his policies.