(MCT) — As Gov. Pat Quinn attempts to move forward with the closure of several prisons and juvenile detention centers, thousands of inmates will be moved to facilities that corrections workers and watchdog groups warn already are dangerously overcrowded and understaffed.

The Democratic governor argues the closures must happen to help dig the state out of its massive debt. But the move has sparked a bitter fight with the state's largest employee union, which says the closures will decimate the economies of the small towns that rely on prisons for jobs, not to mention the safety concerns.