Employees worry about what Stateville Prison closing will mean for their jobs

CREST HILL, Ill. (CBS) -- The State of Illinois has started moving inmates out of Stateville Correctional Center— which is set to close over concerns about poor living conditions there.

But plans to demolish the prison and build a new one at the existing Crest Hill location now have some prison workers worried for their future.

The union representing most of the prison workers says it wants answers as to whether or not its members will have jobs once a new facility is built—and what will happen when all the inmates are gone at the end of next month.

The battle cry from the picket line outside Stateville Prison lately is, "No layoffs, no chaos."

"We don't want any layoffs," said Eugene Washington, president of AFSCME Local 1866. "This is going to impact peoples' future, peoples' employment."

AFSCME Local 1866 represents about 900 Stateville workers who say they are worried about their jobs.

" It's pretty frustrating," Washington said. "Right now, they just want to get rid of the inmates—the individuals in custody—and we are left hanging with what they are going to do with us."

So far, about 100 prisoners have been transferred from Stateville to other facilities around the state. This comes as a judge ordered the roughly 420 inmates be moved out by the end of next month due to so-called hazardous conditions.

"Is it old? Does it need repairs? Yes," said Washington. "But it's not decrepit."

But former inmates see the prison's upkeep differently.

"These conditions are pure torture," Bernard McKinley, a former Stateville inmate, said in July. "There's no other way to say it about it."

Those inmates recently called for the prison to close immediately.

" There are so many inhumane conditions with Stateville that Stateville has to close," McKinley said.

The Illinois Department of Corrections says no one will lose state employment during the construction of a new prison—and there will be opportunities available within the department.

But Washington said there is a concern that those opportunities may be hours away from the prison employees' current jobs at Stateville.

"They haven't showed us where this new facility is supposed to be. They haven't given us no promises on jobs are going to be secure with demolishing Stateville," said Washington. "No layoffs. No chaos. Show us the rebuilds."

Again, the union workers who spoke to CBS News Chicago said they are not opposed to a new facility. They do take issue with the way it has been handled so far.