I haven’t followed this well, but Diane Komisky e-mailed me the following a few days ago. I’ll let you follow up on it.

The Illinois House said Friday Illinois taxpayers want to spend $2 million to open build two new prisons, but they don’t have the money to open one that was complete and ready to open more than a year ago. The empty prison is in Thomson, Carroll County, upstate Illinois (125 miles west of Chicago).

The House made the statement May 16 in a vote on House Bill 1733. An enraged Carroll County Board Chairman wrote the Governor and demanded the deed to the $140 million prison rather than allow it to continue to deteriorate. The state has been paying people to flush toilets and repair damages caused by allowing the 1800 cell prison to sit empty. For more, see http://www.blogstudio.com/archpundit/www.prairie-advocate-news.com or phone 815-493-2560.

To show that the people of upstate Illinois are as sophisticated as people
on the other end of North Avenue, Chicago, they are donning tuxes and
evening gowns tomorrow and making a "formal" statement to the governor from 3-7 p.m. At the Watermelon CafE9, a restaurant immediately east of the prison.