AFSCME public employees union filed a lawsuit yesterday in Alexander County, home of Tamms supermax prison, to block Gov. Pat Quinn's plan to close the facility along with Dwight women's prison, two youth prisons, and two halfway houses. The union contends that the closings will further strain the state prison system and pose a safety threat to corrections employees, who already labor in an overcrowded prison system.

AFSCME seeks an injunction to stop the closing of each facility, as Tamms and Dwight are both scheduled to shut down August 31.

As Progress Illinois has reported, the lawsuit is an alternative to working with the General Assembly to reverse the closures during the fall veto sesion. A 2008 AFSCME lawsuit halted a state plan to close the Pontiac maximum-security prison.