45 Comments - Truth monger - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 11:07 am: You know it will be a whitewash. Just look at the cast of characters. The person missing is Ted Chung, one of the original members of the “cover-up” committee. Hopefully the press won’t be fooled. - Fire Ron Guenther - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 11:09 am: Who participated in preparing the report, other than Erickson? - Old Democrat - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 11:14 am: Maybe Quinn will shock us all and actually say that HE made a mistake. I doubt it though. He always blames others for anything that goes wrong. He is incapable of admitting to a mistake. - Ghost - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 11:16 am: Quinn needs to let his DOC hea go. he is going to protect this guy up to the election, lose th election in part becuase of that decision, and the guy will be out anyway when Brady comes in. - Don't Worry, Be Happy - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 11:24 am: What, the press conference isn’t at 5:30? - Truth monger - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 11:25 am: Just noticed that Jack Lavin is not on the list for the press conference. Does this mean that he gets thrown under the bus? Just a thought. It is the Quinn way. - Dan Bureaucrat - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 11:30 am: I’m not positive about this, but I don’t think Brady was a sponsor or a co-sponsor on the bill that ended MGT Push. Instead, he sponsored the bill that required the Department of Corrections to post detailed information on the Internet about prisoners being released early, like their photographs. That is decidedly useless since the people with sentence credits include almost everyone released, they are not a higher risk to the public than those released from full sentences, and all their pictures are already on the IDOC site. Also the bill to end MGT Push has spiked the prison population to new, dangerous levels for ZERO increase in public safety. Good work, legislators. I can understand why they did it politically, but I can’t forgive them for their absolute denial of the problems facing corrections because of THEM. We have a 50% recidivism rate. There will be new offenses from those released. There is crime. There will be new offenses from people who have never been in. Why can’t they face that problem? You don’t reduce future victims unless you lower recidivism. You don’t lower recidivism unless there is a political will to do it. There is no political will to do it because “prevention” isn’t sexy. But Randle came in to this position holding himself accountable for lowering the recidivism rate, but facing overcrowding and a budget crisis. Everyone knew this, even before he got here. That is why he was brought here. But Quinn chickened out. Last year, the Taxpayer Action Board said we need to release prisoners–they were talking about 11,000 prisoners!!!! Everyone more or less accepted this reality. Now, we have the same problem with overcrowding except much worse. So, what are the proposals to deal with it? - davE - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 11:31 am: If Randle commits ritual seppuku during the press conference, Quinn’s poll numbers would overtake Brady by Monday. - Small Town Liberal - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 11:32 am: If this turns out to be a fair and accurate report of what happened I bet you guys are going to be lining up to heap praise on Quinn, right? - Cincinnatus - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 11:32 am: - Fire Ron Guenther - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 11:09 am: “Who participated in preparing the report, other than Erickson?” Boy, there’s the $64k question. If it was the people attending the press conference (you’d think if there were independent people, at least one would attend the PC), there will be ABSOLUTELY NO CREDIBILITY no matter what the report says. Can someone give me some idea about the street cred on Erickson? Rich? - Will Coutny Woman - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 12:01 pm: So if Quinn could hustle everyone up on a day’s notice, then he’s been sitting on this for sometime? Or, am I being to suspicious? Of course he picks a Friday, in the hopes of having the issue buried. Not too worry though becuase I suspect that John O’Connor of the AP who broke the MGT Push story isn’t one to let this issue slip quietly into the night, should things not sound/seem right. And, if memory serves Chung resigned, giving only four days notice, months ago, right? When Chung was hired he (Chung) said he was not going to a yes-man and would have no problem letting Quinn know what he thought about things. I might be off here, but is it possible that Chung’s rather hasty/abrupt departure had anything to do with MGTPush, its report or its findings, amongst other things? Chung was a no whitewash kind of guy. If this conference sheds no real light on the MGT Push issue, I hope some light is shed about McCotter. I don’t know the guy and I’m sure he is nice and capable, but as a taxpayer I am wondering why he was given the job. Was anyone else under considerstion, and if so whom? McCotter is a retired cop and gets a nice pension. It kinda seems like double-dipping to me. Quinn made a big deal out of double-dipping citing Dan Hynes’ father during the primary. - Will County Woman - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 12:26 pm: *blushing* make that Will County Woman, not Will Coutny Woman it’s Friday, so whatever. - Amalia - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 12:35 pm: let’s see when the report comes out. Erickson is a highly respected trial advocacy teacher and was a prosecutor. - downstater - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 12:41 pm: The only good that Quinn can offer at this point is to accept Randle’s resignation. The early release program was the wrong thing to do and now someone has lost their life over it. Randle being in charge of the DOC makes him accountable for the action. I’m sorry, but Randle has to go. - The $64 million question - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 1:13 pm: “Who knew what when?” Forget everything else. If this report doesn’t answer that simple question in complete and crystal-clear detail, it isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. - John Bambenek - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 1:28 pm: I’m looking at that news release and I don’t see who ordered the program, why it was done and what were the guidelines. I don’t see resolution to the three high-level IDOC administrators who were shown their walking papers for opposing Randle on this issue. I don’t see any discussion on whether Randle was lying, Quinn was lying or they both were. Illinois’ chief problem is that the voters have a crisis of confidence in their leadership. They don’t want to hear about IT problems. If this report doesn’t address the leadership problems, the broken faith remains in both Quinn and Randle. - Truth monger - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 1:35 pm: No one at fault? Systems at fault? This is definitely an obfuscation of the truth. - John Bambenek - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 1:39 pm: You hear that thump? That was Quinn’s poll numbers dropping another 5 points. - Anonymous - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 1:41 pm: where is the link for pr on release - John Bambenek - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 1:49 pm: I just read the entire report… no mention of WHO came up with this idea, WHO authorized it, WHO reviewed it, WHO approved it. It’s a process-oritented review. It’s needed, sure. But this is not the report we’ve been looking for. - John Bambenek - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 1:55 pm: Why know it was an ill-conceived idea, your honor. It doesn’t take a blue-ribbon commission to figure that out. HOW did it come to be and because of WHO’s efforts? Who’s judgement is so broken to have thought this up? - Small Town Liberal - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 1:56 pm: - But this is not the report we’ve been looking for. - You’re looking for a smoking gun to put in Quinn’s hand, and it doesn’t exist. - Old Milwaukee - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 2:03 pm: The smoking gun is in the hands of the criminals who should be in prison. - Old Democrat - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 2:08 pm: So Quinn is rushing back to Chicago to say what: “I didn’t know anything”?? - Pathetic - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 2:14 pm: Randle approved the program - period. To say otherwise shows a complete lack of understanding as to how decisions get made at IDOC. It’s a paramilitary organization where nearly all of the top employees exist to suck up to the director and make him look good. The very few people who actually raised concerns about this program are now gone, either because they were fired or smart enough to get out. This report is useless. - Ghost - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 2:17 pm: his reminds m of the implementation of the new healthcare coverage prorgram that no one authorized but it just magically appeared. I think IL may be the secret home of Hogworts with all our magicaly implemented programs. - VanillaMan - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 2:27 pm: You mean Hogwarts. Not Hogworts. - bartelby - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 2:30 pm: i just don’t get it: MGT has been policy in Illinois since Gov. Thomson started it in 1978. Every administration since has used it. All Randle did was allow 1700+ prisoners their allotted good time release even before they completed their customary 60 days in prison. (They had all already served terms in local jails.) The average reduced sentence was just 37 days. A few prisoners re-committed crimes, as expected. (The recidivism rate in Illinois is 50%.) But I see no scandal. All the proposed reforms sound good. Better supervision of MGT,YES! More parole officers, YES! But we also better start releasing low-level offenders, or use diversion programs instead of prison, or we will go broke even faster than we are now! - John Bambenek - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 2:37 pm: STL- I’m sure the voters couldn’t care less what I’m looking for. What the voters are looking for is who’s fault this is. Whether it was Quinn, Randle, some over-eager staffer, people want names. The IDOC, unlike many other government programs, must command the citizens trust that they know what they are doing. People need to feel like the government will protect them. That trust is not built after a debacle like this by talking about process, notifications and computers. The IDOC must have the faith of the people that they exercise proper judgement. This doesn’t serve building that… I imagine come Monday… for that matter even on Sunday, you’ll hear more about Quinn’s bumbling and how no one really knows what’s going on in state government. - Cincinnatus - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 2:49 pm: STL, There is no way to deflect this from Quinn. He: 1.) Knew about it, or 2.) Directed it and then stayed away for plausible deniability, or 3.) Had no idea what his staff was doing. It is one of those, or some combination. If he is the chief executive of this state, he accepts responsibility for whatever happens, no matter if it is a lowly official that makes a mistake. His fault may be very small or incredibly big. But the chief executive is responsible. In this case, the people are his direct reports. He is either inept, or complicit. There is nothing in between. On another topic, does anyone know when the Judge completed his review and wrote his report? Was it yesterday, a week ago, a month ago or in January? I am curious if Quinn sat on this for any significant length of time. - Ghost - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 3:09 pm: VM that is in fat what I meant, but the other option is possible - downstater - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 3:28 pm: Listened to the whole press release. Randle took full responsibility. He stated that he (Randle) disobeyed Quinn’s direct order DO NOT RELEASE VIOLENT OFFENDERS! Randle did so anyway. Quinn what’s up. Fire the man. He is gonna cost you the election. - Hold on - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 3:39 pm: Quinn’s mistake is playing ball with those who act like any prisoner who re-offends is a smoking gun. People need to stop playing gotcha and focus on addressing root causes and real solutions. The judge is right on the money when he says we need more prison programs, more incentives. Focus on that. - Demoralized - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 3:43 pm: Was that seriously the entire press conference? You try and say to yourself: “Self, it really can’t get much worse can it?” Then Self answers back: “When left to themselves, things always go from bad to worse.” I feel like I’m on that runaway boat in Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory . . . - Dan Bureaucrat - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 3:51 pm: A few notes about the press conference: 1. Erickson had to be feigning his naivete about early release. All states who have it, including Illinois, have used it as population control for decades. He seemed like Pollyanna in his shock that early release has been granted routinely. He emphasized that this has been going on for 30 years. Well, yeah. Duh. 2. It was a good, and boring, history of good time programs and MGT. But, it was not a good discussion of the astronomical recidivism that already exists which is why people commit new crimes. That’s right Joe Public, they don’t commit new crimes because they get out and average of 37 days early. They would have posed the same risk whenever they got out. Yes, it made everyone mad that they got good time when they didn’t “earn” it, but…that’s the way it has ALWAYS been (see Pollyanna above). And because of that 30 year long practice, that was not the main issue with MGT Push, which did increase safety in the prisons, but they weren’t going to discuss that b/c their strategy was to condemn the program more than anyone else ever could. 3. Erickson going on and on about how bad MGT Push started to seem like “I’m going to tell you how bad it is so that you can’t say it is worse than I am saying it is.” 4. He did make a reasonable argument that the practice was not secret. 5. The lack of placing MGT Push in the perspective of prison overcrowding and budget problems was a mistake. The immediate crisis is that the prisons are dangerously overcrowded–and not only was this not addressed, but now the public doesn’t grasp it. Since legislators are too cowardly to reduce prison population without the public understanding it, this qualifies as a missed opportunity. Randle has to go back to work and worry about the safety of his staff, just like he did back in Sept 2009, except way worse now. Great. - Chicago native - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 4:12 pm: Begrudgingly, I have to give Quinn credit for authorizing this study and report. It’s a pretty decent analysis. The problem is that we focus on small individual issues without looking at the big picture. Maybe that’s because the overall problems facing the criminal justice system are so vast, as Erickson’s report suggests. At the same time, my respect for Quinn ends when I see that once again, he’s thrown Dir. Randle under the bus. Randle was on orders to vastly cut the prison population - orders from Quinn. Does anyone seriously think he was going to do that by releasing only boy scouts and jay walkers? - Will County Woman - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 4:29 pm: I feel bad for Randle, and I still think Quinn is at fault here totally. @Hold on, the judge says we need more prison programs? No what WE need is for shady characters in government to stop siphoning off public monies for themselves and their connected friends, when the money is intended to serve the public good (e.g., schools). What WE need is the city of Chicago to get its act together and stop holding certain segments of the population hostage in a system that perpetuates never-ending multi-generational poverty, crime, violence and desperation. what WE need is a a government that stops coddling people, but holds them accountable for the children that they bring into this world. what WE need are programs that discourage unwanted/unplanned pregnancies from occuring in the first place! what WE need are government programs that encoruage self-sufficiency and penalize idleness and irresponsibility. - southern illinoisan - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 4:55 pm: This report explains the obvious — that the MGT push was a mistake. What it does not explain is who is responsible for such a bad decision. And as I said yesterday, someone should be asking about the numerous mistakes that have been made involving the EGCC program. Trust me they are out there…… - moby - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 5:16 pm: Maybe this report will be the beginning of the end of this red herring. MGT is not the issue, and Randle should be supported for his efforts at reform, not attacked. The real issues are prison overcrowding, high recidivism, lack of education and rehabilitation in prison, a lack of jobs for prisoners when they get out…and the wallet busting cost of imprisoning almost 50,000 people in Illinois. - Chicago native - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 5:17 pm: I hope that once the Department of Corrections gets decent computers, it will keep careful track of the recidivism rates of those held at least 60 days, so they can be compared to the rates of those released under MGT Push. I can’t imagine that an extra 60 days - particularly in prisons as overcrowded and underfunded as ours - is going to lessen the rate of recidivism. MGT Push is not the problem. As Erickson’s report shows, there wasn’t one “bad decision”; instead there’s a system that’s entirely broken because of our lock-em-up-and-wake-me-when-it’s-over attitude. - Dan Bureaucrat - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 5:22 pm: John Bambenek: I just read your comments, and I see where you are coming from, and I always appreciate your posts. Yes, people want names and didn’t get them. But, the press conference did illuminate quite a bit about how this happened. Here’s what I understand: Even before Randle got there, it was decided (from several quarters) that Illinois was going to have to accelerate release. We had no choice. Randle arrived, and the IDOC was under brutal pressure to cut the budget, and AFSCME is out there having a heart attack about overcrowding and overtime and unbearable stress, as they should be. So IDOC easily identified the people who were the most stupidly expensive to incarcerate (in prison for very short times, and for no rehabilitative benefit). No, they didn’t get into the morality of good time, they just used this program as it had been used for the past 30 years. So, a team at the IDOC put together a plan to accelerate this already existing MGT which was always already granted automatically unless someone was terrible. (Judge Erickson was so morally outraged by this very thought, but like I said, the lady doth protest too much. First, everyone knows that’s how good time works. Second, you pretty much have to give prisoners automatic MGT unless they do something bad because there are no programs for them to prove themselves, and we can’t just keep them all in.) They pointed out, rightly, that the law does indeed authorize all these prisoners to have MGT–even DV and DUI prisoners–so they included them. (It came up today from a reporter that it might have been illegal to specifically exclude them. I’m not sure if that is true. Anyone know?) A lot of the conference was dedicated to the IDOC computer problem. Piecing together the backgrounds of these prisoners was severely hampered by the fact that there are 30 separate computer systems that do not talk to each other so they don’t have full records on everyone all the time. (Kind of like our health care system.) Also (how many times can I say it), no one is recognizing the crisis that we ALL have put this agency in. As Rep. Sacia always states, “This agency is the whipping post by everyone.” At this point, we are incredibly lucky to have anyone willing to lead this agency and take on major reform. And, there is a press release with Randle’s accomplishments so far which are astounding for one year. It is worth reading before you call for him to be fired. - Amalia - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 5:30 pm: scanning through the release, there is a lot that has been done in the past few months and it’s a load of good. the computer/IT piece of this change cannot be dismissed. this is often a factor in information going missing, botched exchanges between agencies and decision makers. just look at the miss of the DC police who had the serial stabber in custody and let him go. it’s a dicey game with information and the most up to date technology is welcome. think of it as airline travel with bad guys. the accreditation piece is also of note, and the new personnel put in place in the govs office a few months ago to monitor criminal justice issues is a good filter. did Deanne Benos leave IDOC? cause there is a woman listed on the release as acting assistant director. there could be more than one, and I would not have included Deanne in the presser (old Blago Cong. staffer) but she is smart and there is an acting name there. maybe deanne is gone for a reason? - Anonymous - Friday, Aug 13, 10 @ 6:05 pm: amen moby you hit the nail and get a ribbon. lets move on - Alan - Saturday, Aug 14, 10 @ 10:41 am: Those criticizing the MGT_Push program haven’t dealt with the obvious question: what would they recommend the State do to deal with its dangerously overcrowded, understaffed, and underfunded prison system. There are only three options. Release more prisoners (Randle tried that); send fewer people to prison; raise taxes to pay for building more prisons and hiring more staff. So which one do the critics support? Why is no one asking Brady this obvious question? - wordslinger - Saturday, Aug 14, 10 @ 10:43 am: Quinn didn’t fire Randle, so the buck stops with him. That’s what happens when you’re in the big chair. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.