SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Inmates at the high-security Tamms prison "have a history of assaulting staff, preying on other inmates" and should not be shipped to other Illinois correctional facilities ill-prepared to handle them, a lawsuit filed Thursday claims in seeking to halt to Gov. Pat Quinn's prison closures.

The corrections workers' union claims Quinn's plan to close Tamms, a women's maximum-security prison at Dwight, two halfway houses and two youth detentions centers — transferring up to 5,000 prisoners in the already overcrowded system — will endanger guards and inmates alike, according to the lawsuit. The Associated Press obtained a copy of the suit in advance.

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees took action in Alexander County in far southern Illinois, where Tamms is located. The filing asks a judge to stop prisoner relocation until the Department of Corrections negotiates closure conditions and ensures safety of employees who the union says already work in understaffed facilities.