Officials debate Pontiac vs. Thomson

Illinois spent millions securing prison set for closure CHAMPAIGN (AP) - Illinois spent more than $17 million in the late 1990s and early part of this decade turning the Pontiac prison the governor plans to close into a specialized lockup to keep hundreds of the state's most violent and destructive prisoners away from other inmates, according to state records. The money, from the state Department of Corrections and the Capital Development Board, bought steel plates to keep prisoners from digging through the walls of the 137-year-old prison, specially designed doors that can't be kicked loose and what amount to steel-barred cages where prisoners exercise, records and interviews show. Six years after the work was finished, Gov. Rod Blagojevic