DOC fights Brady's push for prisoner picture legislation

The Illinois Department of Corrections is fighting back against Republican governor hopeful Bill Brady's push for his opponent to sign legislation that would create an online photo gallery of prisoners released early.

Several of the legislation's stipulations - including posting photos and pertinent information for prisoners released early - have been in place since 1999, said Sharyn Elman, the department's chief public information officer.

"We have it, we've already been doing it. I don't want to get into politics, but it seems like posturing," she said Thursday.

The legislation, approved by lawmakers in April, would require photographs and identification information - including name, aliases, birth date, physical characteristics, address, offense and county of conviction - to be placed on the corrections department website within three days of an inmate's release. The information would not be removed until the end of the prisoner's first year of mandatory supervised release or his return to custody.

As the legislation would only apply to inmates released in the future, Brady called for Quinn to "voluntarily post pictures" of prisoners released late last year.

Elman pointed out that pictures of those inmates can already be found by doing a search of their names on the department's website.

Brady campaign spokeswoman Patty Schuh said the department was "splitting hairs," noting that photos posted often aren't current, and information, including alias and address of conviction, is not included in the current information.

"With this legislation, people aren't searching in 900 different places," he said.

Quinn has until July 21 to act on the legislation, or it automatically becomes law.