PONTIAC, Ill. - Despite intermittent pouring rain, more than 1,000 people insisted on showing their support for keeping Pontiac Correctional Center open.

Pontiac Mayor Scott McCoy estimates that from 1,500 to 2,000 people showed Saturday for a "Save Pontiac Prison" photograph.

Everyone wore a navy blue shirt as they milled around the Livingston County Courthouse.

The photograph and a previous parade were part of an effort to convince Gov. Rod Blagojevich to keep the prison open. The governor has proposed closing the prison and moving inmates to a now-unused prison in Thomson was a way to save money.


Chicago Tribune

In upstate New York, the rural counties that crowd the Canadian border have been known as "Little Siberia" for decades — because of the harsh winters there and because prisons are a big part of the local economy.

On a recent frigid morning, Saranac Lake's Winter Carnival parade winds down Main Street. There are dancing clowns and fire trucks and National Guardsmen home from Iraq.

And there in the middle of the parade is a float carrying a giant banner that reads "Save Camp Gabriels."

...

"We can't lose this — this is more than just dollars! This is life. This is our heritage," she said.

It turns out that declining inmate populations are terrible news in northern New York, where prisons are viewed with roughly the same loyalty and fondness as factories or farms.

NPR