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Gov. Rauner Pushes to Privatize Illinois Prison Nursing Jobs

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Governor Bruce Rauner wants a private employer to take over 120 nursing jobs from state prisons. But the Illinois Senate passed legislation that would block the plan on Wed.

The governor says his plan would save $8 million. That’s chump change for state government. But this fight is about one of the larger arguments between the governor and his opponents.

Privatization. Governor Rauner is trying to move jobs and responsibilities of the state over to private hands. Private companies, the thinking goes, can do the same work for cheaper.

Democrats say that’s because private companies don’t pay their workers well. And four Republican senators agreed, including Sam McCann from Plainview.

“Why can’t we be for working people? Why would we let these nurses go, then hire them back the next day...for less.”

The Rauner administration says Illinois has been outsourcing other prison health services for 25 years.