SPRINGFIELD – One of the more contentious episodes in the history of Illinois penitentiaries ended Friday as the last inmates held at the "supermax" prison in Tamms moved out and Gov. Pat Quinn's administration prepares to shut it down.

The final five inmates at the high-security home for the "worst of the worst" were shipped to the Pontiac Correctional Center, a prison spokeswoman said. Among the last to leave was a convict who helped lead a prison riot in 1979 and stabbed serial killer John Wayne Gacy while on death row.

Also bused out of the southern Illinois city were four dozen residents of the adjoining minimum-security work camp, packed off to Sheridan Correctional Center in north-central Illinois.