Volume 8, No. 2
Summer 2002

Go Home

Archive Articles:

Prisons and Southern Illinois

Consumer Price Index -- Revisited

Illinois Skills Match Upgrade

Illinois Wins a Second Work Incentive
Grant

Archives

Prisons and Southern Illinois

by Charles "Mike" Vessel and Dennis Hoffman

A list of some of the Correctional Centers in Southern Illinois

Why would any community want a prison? What is the economic impact of a prison in an area? Are there advantages for a city to have a prison? These types of questions are often asked when the state is seeking to build a new prison. In southern Illinois, these questions have been answered in many communities.

There are 12 State of Illinois Adult Correctional Centers (including plans for a new prison in Grayville)¹ located in Illinois communities south of Interstate I-70. Ten of these facilities have been built in the last twenty years causing employment to increase by over 3,000. During the past ten years employment growth due to prison openings has increased by over 2,200. Every corner of this region is home to at least one Department of Corrections facility. In fact, 11 of the 35 counties have a correctional facility. Obviously, many southern Illinois communities have successfully convinced the state to construct new prisons in their area. Also, two federal correctional facilities are located in this region in Williamson and Bond counties.

Total employment for these facilities is nearing 7,000. Only Southern Illinois University has more employees in this region of the state. Many counties in southern Illinois have suffered through coal mine layoffs and closings, oil industry reductions, and manufacturing plant shut downs the past few decades. This has been devastating to many communities and is reflected in the generally high unemployment rates of the region (see coal mine reports in previous issues of the Illinois Labor Market Review). The prisons have helped to stabilize the labor markets of these small, rural economies. These facilities generally do not have layoffs, have large payrolls and offer employees fringe benefits and retirement plans, and are not susceptible to relocating. In addition the sizable prison construction projects advanced the local economy.

photo by Herman Krieger

An increase in tax revenue is one of the major benefits of having a prison within the city limits. Obviously, the prison employees as well as visitors purchase goods and services locally, boosting the sales tax revenue for the community. Another significant local benefit of having a prison located in your community is that the inmates are counted as residents. Tax revenue from state sources, including the motor fuel tax, state income tax, and state use tax, are distributed to local governments based on total population. A substantial gain of having a prison in your town is the increase in tax distributions from the state.

For example, the village of Ina, with a population of 489 in 1990, increased to 2,455 (+402 percent) in 2000 after the Big Muddy River Prison opened in 1993. This large-scale increase in tax revenues has enabled the village of Ina to purchase new equipment and machines including a backhoe, truck, tractor, and mower. Nearly every street has been resurfaced, more street lights added, and a sewer lift station was upgraded. The village of Ina has also built a $1 million community center with the additional funds². The average daily prison population in Ina is currently 2,017. Another town, Pinckneyville, experienced a population increase from 3,372 to 5,464, a 63 percent gain since the prison opened there in 1998. Pinckneyville is beginning to benefit from a similar influx of tax revenue. Their average daily prison population stands at 1,945.

Some concerns about the location of a prison in a community include the host town’s reputation, increased crime, and increased demands on health and security services. These are certainly legitimate inquiries and need to be weighed against the benefits. However, as verified by many southern Illinois communities, prisons have certainly helped to stabilize labor market economies that were in serious need of assistance. Several thousand well paying jobs, with better than average fringe benefits and an excellent pension plan, are hard to beat!

1. Construction is scheduled to begin in the spring of 2003 on the Grayville Correctional Center.

2. Carmi Times, Carmi, Illinois September 14, 2001 “Ina Reaping” by Ray Mitchell.