Prisons make easy targets for budget cuts.

They’re not supposed to be pleasant places, after all. And although there’s the hope that those who are sent there might ponder the loss of their freedom and seek to rehabilitate themselves, when it’s between prisoners and schoolchildren, the latter should win every time.

So it naturally follows that Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has proposed closing two Illinois prisons, the high-security prison in Tamms, the women’s maximum-security prison in Dwight, and a handful of other facilities. The state has an overall budget deficit of more than $40 billion, including a backlog of unpaid bills and a still-simmering pension crisis it has yet to confront in a meaningful way.