SPRINGFIELD (AP) — Little support seems to exist for reopening a super-maximum prison in southern Illinois that has been closed for more than two years.

The Springfield bureau of Lee Enterprises reports the notorious Tamms prison remains shut down despite an effort from at least one Illinois lawmaker to push Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner to get the facility operating again to help ease a crowded correctional system.

Illinois’ inmate population hovers around 48,000 in a system designed to hold 32,000. The Republican governor has called for a 25 percent reduction in the prison population.

Tamms shut down in January 2013 when former Gov. Pat Quinn closed dozens of state facilities. Prison watchdog groups had reported brutal conditions inside the prison and called the treatment of inmates there inhumane.

 

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