Quinn OKs new rules for early prison release
SPRINGFIELD — Gov. Pat Quinn signed legislation Friday that gives the General Assembly’s blessing to resume early release of inmates from the state’s overcrowded prisons, but with some new restrictions.
Anyone getting early release must be nonviolent, display good behavior and serve at least 60 days in the Corrections Department. That’s how releases were supposed to be handled in the past, but in 2009, The Associated Press revealed that the department had released inmates just weeks or even days after their arrival.
Some violent offenders were set free under the program named MGT Push, a reference to speeding up the process of granting “meritorious good time” to inmates. The Democratic governor denied knowing about MGT Push, called it a “big mistake” and shut it down in 2009 — along with all other early releases.
Since then, the absence of early release has contributed to severe overcrowding at state prisons, which are 14,000 inmates above normal capacity.
Quinn said in a statement Friday that resuming early release “is good criminal justice policy and good public safety policy that will manage our prison population and make nonviolent offenders less likely to commit crime in the future.”
Some legislators felt Quinn would never resurrect early release on his own, so they needed to pass a bill to make it clear they support the idea. A key sponsor, Sen. Kwame Raoul, noted Friday that the measure had “broad and bipartisan support.”
“Overcrowding in Illinois’ prisons is reaching a crisis point,” Raoul, a Chicago Democrat, said in a statement.
A year ago, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled California’s correctional congestion amounted to unconstitutional punishment and ordered its population reduced by 30,000 in two years.
Experts fear Illinois could be hit with a similar order: Since Quinn shut the door on early release, Illinois’ prison population has to 48,000 in a system designed to hold about 34,000. In addition, Quinn plans to close two prisons, which will worsen the problem.
The new law expands the number and types of programs — substance abuse treatment, life-skills training — that an inmate can participate in and receive sentence credit. For the first time, it grants credit for programs at county jails, where most criminals spend months awaiting trial.
It also gives the corrections director complete discretion to refuse early release to violent inmates. Right now, corrections officials believe court rulings limit that discretion.
The department will also have to produce annual reports on its handling of early releases and notify local law enforcement two weeks before an inmate is freed.
Also Friday, the state’s executive inspector general released a report recommending that two parole agents be fired over allegations they leaked information about MGT Push to The Associated Press. The inspector found that they improperly looked up information on paroled inmates, gave the information to a reporter and later lied about it.
Both men retired before the Corrections Department could take disciplinary action.