If this were an isolated occurrance I probably wouldn’t be concerned much about it. But the fact is, this is as close to the rule as it is the exception.

Illinois Issues reports:

A controversial plan to shut down part of the Stateville prison in Joliet became just a bit more contentious after a packed meeting at the Statehouse Wednesday.

The director of the state’s prisons told a House committee that the reclassification and transfer of more than 1,000 maximum security prisoners and the relocation of hundreds of employees was being done to justify the state’s $140 million new prison in Thomson

This is common in state school construction. Communities will qualify for state construction bonds and use them to justify schools that are way too big. The, in order to justify them, they shut down smaller satellite schools and bus kids in. Jerseyville is a particularly notable example.