* Brady wants him fired, but Quinn will have none of that…
Republican candidate for governor Bill Brady on Sunday called on Democratic Gov. Pat Quinn to fire the state’s prisons chief after an early-release plan was ripped in a report for saving money at the expense of public safety.
“I believe the highest obligation of any governor is to protect the interests of the public, the public safety. By allowing these releases to occur, Gov. Quinn failed to meet this obligation,” Brady, a state senator from Bloomington, said at a downtown Chicago news conference.
In Springfield, Quinn responded that he would not fire corrections chief Michael Randle, saying, “I don’t need a lecture from Sen. Brady.” […]
“I’m not going to change the director,” Quinn said during an interview Sunday at the executive mansion. “He did make a mistake. He took responsibility for it.”
All too predictable. The last time Quinn as asked about this was back in May, by my intern Barton Lorimor…
Quinn’s chief of staff, Jerry Stermer, said Friday he was present last summer and fall when the governor told Randle he was not to release violent offenders under MGT Push. Randle took responsibility for not supervising his subordinates closely enough to make sure they followed that dictum. As a result, he said, “It happened.”
That’s not what the subordinates have said. Judge David Erickson’s report did not go into any sort of detail about who actually put that MGT Push program into place. From everything I’ve been told, Randle backed it to the hilt. From Friday’s presser…
Quinn’s order conflicted with a law allowing some violent offenders to qualify for early release, and Randle said that, as director, he should have seen the conflict and suspended the program before anyone with a record of violence was released.
It all looks from the outside that Randle was a passive force. Again, that’s not what I’ve been told by the insiders.
Also, we still don’t know why Randle failed or refused to tell Gov. Pat Quinn about the program until the Associated Press broke the story. I have tried and failed to get an answer to that particular question for months. Too bad they didn’t hold Friday’s press conference in Springfield. Maybe we could’ve gotten to the bottom of things because the Chicago reporters let a lot of stuff slide Friday.
* Roundup and related stories…
* ‘Serious flaws’ in prison-release program: “MGT was a dismal failure. It was totally dysfunctional,” said Judge David Erickson, Kent College of Law… “Inmates did not have to do anything to earn their good time,” said Erickson.
* Bill Brady Wants Illinois’ Prison Chief Replaced: He said Quinn’s not removing Randle shows a lack of “moral responsibility.”
* Quinn picks new inspector general: Ricardo Meza, a former federal prosecutor, succeeds James A. Wright, whose dismissal on Friday was first reported by the Tribune. Meza is the Midwest regional counsel for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund, a long-established Latino advocacy group.
This is a fine example of Quinn’s lack of leadership. This wasn’t a little problem, the guy put dangerous people on the street and we are all still at risk because of it. It is a prime example of how Quinn lacks either the intellect or the fortitude to right the ship. You cannot see this and vote for Quinn.
It may be a good message for whoever wins in November. I suspect Quinn can’t fire Randle because he doesn’t want Randle doing talk shows and telling the world the reality of DOC.
For a long time DOC has been a dumping ground for political hires in administrative positions. The director is told to hide these clowns, but keep more inmates in prison with less money. Something had to give. The only solution is for the governor, Brady or Quinn to eliminate at least 100 or so of these positions and hire 200 guards for 1/2 the salary. you will offset cost with the salary swap and save money with the OT reductions.
The IDOC did NOT want to do this program. They were talking abot releasing 11,000 prisoners before Randle even got there! They had to because of dangerous overcrowding and no money to pay for it. How this happened was actually explained at the press conference. There was no single problem. It was murky. Quinn said one thing and the law said another. Remember people, this was a perfectly legal use of MGT.
The commission report said that the good time program has routinely been used to relieve prison overcrowding for the past 30 years. The commission report was truly a waste for many reasons, but especially because it doesn’t address our current crisis. We are at record levels of overcrowding, and that is why they implemented MGT Push. That hasn’t changed. It has gotten worse. Brady has no answer to this except cutting cable television? And cutting the IDOC budget even more which will make the problem worse, and endanger correctional officers, staff and prisoners alike. Brady has no way out of this crisis…he doesn’t even grasp the problem.
Randle is not being fired because he is doing an excellent job streamling and updating the IDOC in spite of no money and crisis levels of overcrowding.
And the press has done a terrible job of reporting on this, but here are the facts. MGT Push did not endanger the public. The people were released an average of 37 days later than they would have released anyway. Whatver risk they pose is the exact same risk that they would have posed 37 days later. Duh.
I am sorry you guys, but MGT is a phony issue. Every state in the union has some version of MGT, and Illinois’ system was started by Thomson (the Republican!) in 1978. The average time that sentences were reduced in this case was just 36 days; does anyone really believe that those extra few days in prison — and w/o time for rehab — will actually change a sinner into a saint?
Of course a few released prisoner re-offended; the recidivism rate in Illinois is 50%! Unless we want the state to go even more broke than it already is, we have to be able to release prisoners who have received good-time credits. The key however — and Brady has nothing to say about this — is to offer education, drug counseling, rehabilitation and job training. Randle is trying to do just this, but the constant sniping from the Republicans, and Quinn’s excessive defensiveness doesn’t help.
My job has nothing to do with corrections, police or anything like it, but I am interested in what happens to people in prison, and have been following all this closely. Brady would be a disaster for Illinois!
– “Quinn’s chief of staff, Jerry Stermer, said Friday he was present last summer and fall when the governor told Randle he was not to release violent offenders under MGT Push.” –
So, the Governor was not only aware of the MGT Push program, Quinn and his CoS were involved in the details of the program and how it was to be administered.
So, again, it is proven that Quinn lied that when he said he “did not know” about the program.
IMO, that’s a more serious indictment against this administration.
===At this rate, Pat Quinn could lose by Alan Keyes margins…===
And your evidence is what? A mid-August, 2004 Tribune poll had Keyes scoring less than a quarter of the vote. He got 27 percent.
- Will County Woman - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:59 am:
The online Trib has a VERY handsome photo of Brady up with this Randle/MGT push issue. I can’t wait for Quinn and Brady to debate. Not only are their positions in start contrast, so is their appearance. But, I digress.
The explanations given by the Quinn administration on Friday seemed strange. When MGT Push was first exposed Quinn stated he didn’t know anything about it and that no such program existed. days later he acknowleged being aware of the program. yet, on friday administration officials all admit be fully aware from the start. so, i’m not sure why quinn initially tried deny that MGT push existed. next, the adminstration says it issued a clear directive that no violent criminals be released. I find it hard to believe that the administration was that explicit and that key directive did not filter down and was not carried out. at issue for quinn was that he had two early release programs opertaing simultaneously: one he informed the public about and one he didn’t. the one he informed the public about led to the release of people with serious dui records, and he re-incacerated them after a scathing sun-times editorial. i’m not sure why the administration saw fit to reveal in advance one early release program, but not the other. i can only surmise that the intent was to release people that had the public been informed in advance would have caused an uproar. hence, it was kept secret.
top quinn administration officials were all aware of the ramifications of MGT push politically vis a vis the public saftey concern issue. the administration officials are all old enough to remember what willie horton did to dukakis in his bid for the presdiency in 1988. they knew the risk, and took it anyway all to save a few dollars, which they actually didn’t save.
i’m pretty sure that both early release programs resulted in no net-savings of any kind and actually cost the state more money than had well enough been left alone.
The real threat to Illinois safety is not early release, but its overcrowded prisons. Randle was using tools the legislature gave him to deal with this problem. That’s why Quinn hired him.
Randle needs to go, but Quinn is far from blameless. It was Quinn who placed inexperienced public safety staff from his Lt. Governor’s office as deputy governors to oversee the Dept. of Corrections. It’s a classic mistake. They “didn’t know what they didn’t know” and failed to asked critical follow up questions of Randle. So who is to blame? In my opinion, it’s Quinn
MGT Push was a form of early release authorized by the legislature. The only thing Randle did in instituting MGT Push was drop a department policy that required inmates serve 60 days before getting any good time. This policy resulted in a significant waste of limited resources with no public safety benefit.
I’m not saying that the laws don’t need reform. They do. But Randle didn’t write them.
I echo my comment from earlier,Quinn is going to protect Randle at the epense of losing this election, at which point brady will sack Randle. So Quinn isnt doing the guy any favors.
Sack Randle, and if Quinn wins the elxtion he can help him land somewhere.
At this point Quinn is stiking to his guns on the one thing he needs to give in on, and giving in on all the things he needed to stick to his guns on. he has backed off of every threat he made during the bdget process to cut and share pain to make the budget work, including educational grants etc.
The only thing he has stuck to is protecting Randle, and making the hand full of State employees who are responsible for manging the day to day operations take huge pay cuts.
1. The crimes of the prisoners who received MGT were almost entirely NOT violent, though some had prior violent records. (That never stopped MGT before.)
2. The average released time was 36 days. Do you really think that would have made a difference in the behavior of the prisoners once released?
3. The newly legislated restrictions on MGT will cost the state 64 million bucks! Do you want to fire police, firefighters and teachers so that we can keep a few prisoners locked up extra month?
Based on powers granted to him by the legislature, Randle released people who would have served on average a little more than 30 days more than they were sentenced to.
The state can’t afford to give these inmates any kind of rehabilitative programming.
Realistically, the only thing that would have likely happened in those 30 days is that inmates would have sat in overcrowded prison and learned to commit new crimes from their cellmates.
I have worked for some big companies and small ones. At each place, the top management teams get together and review the top issues they are facing, positive and negative. CEO also meets with key leaders to go over any controversial items. If the CEO gets hit with some major issue that was never discussed in a management meeting, someone caught serious grief. Is it expecting too much that a Governor gets together with his agency directors for regular state of the state meetings? How can the state function without knowing what the top team members are facing? This entire MGT issue would have surely ranked as a top Corrections topic for any management team review.
I think we can speculate on what is really going on here. Randle, based upon the order of Quinn, implements an early release program to save money. The program has serious consequences. Quinn refuses to hang Randle out to dry because he told him to do the program. That could be why we are seeing all this illogical tap dancing.
He did not let a bunch of violent prisoners loose! That is simply ridiculous. By the way, did you have a problem with these same people getting out 37 days later?!
The guy that committed the horrible tragic murder in Peoria was in for a minor crime. He was let out after a minor parole violation. As the Republican chair of the PRB said, “We could not build enough prisons to keep guys with minor parole violations inside.”
How can you people try to blame people in parole and corrections for humans who commit terrible crimes? These people are actually trying to lower the recidivism rate with NO help from a set of delusional legislators who can’t solve long-term problems for fear that any grasp on reality will cost them the election. Shame on you. Brady will stop paying the bill on cable TV, which not only costs almost nothing, but improves safety. Great.
the MGT program was modified by Govs. Edgar, Ryan and Blago. The point is that MGT-push only removed the informal restriction that guys had to serve 60 days in prison before they were eligible. (They all already served much more than that in local jails.)
This program did not release people serving sentences for violent crimes, though some had violent priors. (That had always been the way it was done.) Now, because of poor reporting and partisan politics, we have the worst of everything: there is STILL little or no money for rehab. or counseling, AND guys are staying in longer, costing the state 10s of millions of extra money (we don’t have) each year. I say keep Randle, and give him a chance to reform the system. (The Vera Institute will soon issue a report on it.)
The prisons are overcrowded? When they were talking about selling Thomson, the prisons were under-utilized… I never can tell where exactly the prison population is… too much or too few.
===He did not let a bunch of violent prisoners loose! That is simply ridiculous. ===
Even the administration’s own analysis showed MGT Push endangered public safety because of the type of people that was let loose. You just can’t see anything that conflicts with your own crazy world view.
James A. Wright was @ the Illinois Tollway sweeping everything under the carpet for Blagojevich and company. Guys like him always end up with a better gig.
Quinn is politically blind, his actions are so at odds with his message, which he goes back on time and again, I really can’t get what he’s thinking. Does he really believe he will win this election, while making so many foolish mistakes? Or does he believe Illinois voters are fools?
As per usual, the Quinn appologists are just digging the hole deeper.
The excuses and equivocation will just make this worse. I’m so sorry if the world isn’t fair. The public wants convicts to serve more time rather than less. Period. Overcrowding? Budget crunch? The public doesn’t care.
As if the abject financial mismanagement of the state (continued and exacerbated by Quinn) wasn’t enough to put Brady in the mansion, Quinn seems Hell-bent on handing the GOP another sure fire issue for the fall.
==Even the administration’s own analysis showed MGT Push endangered public safety because of the type of people that was let loose.==
The only thing MGT Push endangered was Quinn’s political career.
==The prisons are overcrowded?==
Since the suspension of the early release programs, IL has added more than 2,000 inmates to its prisons. That increase is the equivalent to a large prison. Today, IL’s prison population is quickly nearing 50 thousand, a record high.
This increase has occurred at a time when most states have seen their prison population drop.
The real question IL faces is not a now-dead early release program–it is how can it afford to pay for its prisons? Erickson’s report pointed to some necessary reforms, but offered no real insight into how we are going to address the crippling costs of incarceration.
Pat Brady is often described as an “empty suit” and this is for sure accurate on his knowledge of prison issues. Brady does know how to play gutter politics. Reality is prison are overcrowded, almost 3,000 added in past six months, six out of every ten return to prison, programs are few and far between. The General Assembly passes “lock em and keep em forever” laws and then steps away for Get real!!! The DOC cant even track prisoners b/c of rotten computer system with 27 systems that cant talk with each other. Will the Republicans approved delayed maintanence money. NOOOO
Other states namely New York has actaully reduced prison population, saved money and has public safety as top priority. It is working. This is the path Michael Randle is trying to turn this bureaucracy and he just might be savvy enough to do If power hungry republicans will leave him alone. Quinn deserves much credit for sticking with Randle as he is best hope to keep prison growth from bankrupting the state.
At this point, who would take the job pre-election. Less effort for Quinn if he just leaves Randle in place with some oversight, especially as Quinn himself pparently has decided to tolerate the political risk that such a decision entails. Also, I presume we are paying for more than one or two “central office” types from the executive branch to keep an eye on the management of the prisons, as well.
The costs of running the Illinois prisons system are becomingly increasingly burdensome. As others have pointed out, early release and other initiatives are being tried across the country–it’s a national initiative. Whoever is responsible, the most unfortunate part of this whole debacle for us citizens will likely be significant delays in innovation with respect to prison reform in Illinois.
I’m sure the republicans would approve opening Thomson for some of those over-crowded prisons… you know, the building we already own and has been sitting empty for years…
Quinn is not going to tick off the black people, especially the Black Caucus in the General Assembly, by canning Randle. You can also see his new pander to the latino crowd with his Executive Inspector General appointment. Nothing against the guy, but you know how things work. Find a qualified person that fits your political need at the time.
Also, Anonymous @12:40, I’m not sure which planet you are from b/c your comments are silly. By the way, the Brady running for Governor is Bill Brady. Try and keep up.
- Will County Woman - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:56 pm:
John, upon being released some of the MGT-Pushees committed new crimes. One is even suspected/accused in the killing of a Peoria woman. So, yes public saftey was in fact endangered.
Let’s also keep in mind that right around the time the AP story broke about MGT Push, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was under fire for a decision he made, while governor, to release someone with a lengthy criminal background who ultimately went on to hunt down and murder police officers in Washington (Seattle area?). Sure, it could be argued that Huckabee had no way of knowing that years later the guy was going to go on a killing spree in another state. But, had Huckabee not granted clemency the guy, he would’ve still been in prison in 2009 rather than free to go on the killing spree that he did. Whatever presidential aspirations Huckabee may have had, he no longer has after this episode late last year.
In addition to that, in Sept or October 2009 when Quinn announced and bragged about the non-secret early prison release program, the Gov of Wisconsin was considering releasing prisoners early too,but acknowledged the for sure concerns and risks associated with such a move. I’m not sure if followed through with his plan, though.
Director Randle has done virtually nothing to enhance education, sub abuse, rehab and job training since he took over IDOC. I am employed at IDOC, so I know first hand what is happening.
There have been hundreds of positions at IDOC filled since Randle started. Many were critcal vacancies that were needed. Many were not. I can cite example afte example, but I will give you one in particular. Vienna CC is a minimum security facility with a pop. of over 1400 inmates. Most will be paroled within 2 years. There are 2 teachers there to teach Basic Education and GED. That’s right — 2 teachers. Now, if Education was such a high priority for Randle don’t you think he would see that teschers were hired instead of maint and clerical staff?
–southern illinoisan–The source of your problem is not Randle, but the budget and lack of resources. The DOC does not control how much state funds it gets. I know, for example, that the community colleges that run post-secondary and vocational programming almost pulled out of the prisons not because DOC or Randle did not want them, but because the state was not paying for services rendered.
Looking at the metadata of the PDF, it was generated 10am on Friday. Doesn’t mean the word doc they used wasn’t done earlier, but they didn’t do the finishing touches until Friday.
Illinois voters have to be struggling (in disbelief) as Pat Quinn continues to try to convince us that his choice of Michael Randle to head up the Illinois Corrections System was and still is “the best choice”. If Governor Quinn had been the Governor of Louisiana when BP created one of the worst ecological disasters in history, many of us feel that “somehow” Quinn would have found a way to praise BP for their ability to avoid red tape and take shortcuts in finding new sources of oil.
- Will County Woman–While I believe in rehabilitation, there is no denying the fact that inmates are a high-risk, dangerous population. After leaving prison, many people will commit new crimes and return. Early release does not cause this problem. In fact, there is good evidence that when low-risk offenders are incarcerated with high-risk offenders, they are more likely to commit new crimes when they get out.
That’s in part why I would argue that a more limited use of prisons will actually make the public safer. If we could finds ways to incarcerate less people–reserve prisons for dangerous, violent offenders–we’d have more money to spend on education, job training programs, and other forms of proven crime prevention. But this does not mean that a more limited use of prisons will make us absolutely safe–because no correction policy can do that.
My name is Robert Manor and I am the Prison & Jail Monitor for the John Howard Association, a prison reform group. I have been in 10 prisons this year, examining and reporting on conditions.
I can tell you with authority that the prisons are grossly overcrowded. Cells designed to hold one inmate typically hold two. The average cell is smaller than a supermarket parking spot.
This morning there were a record 47,704 inmates in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, up more than 2,000 since January. This unprecedented increase is largely due to the elimination of early release programs and shows no sign of abating.
It costs approximately $25,000 a year for Illinois to incarcerate someone. You do the math.
If you would like to learn more about prison conditions, visit our website at http://www.thejha.org/
Rich, I am a Republican (the old kind), and a fiscal conservative. Historically, I think we have been shown not to have a crazy world view. As for MGT Push, I understand why people are saying what they are saying, but the misinformation is as thick as tar, and that is in large part because Quinn has just clamped down and refused to defend or explain what he did.
What the commission report actually says is that all MGT is dangerous, and that people should not be released on ANY good time ever (MGT or MGT Push) unless they get rehabilitation. So according to Erickson, not only did MGT Push endanger the public, but so did ordinary MGT as utilized by all past administrations for decades… they conclude that we have been endangering the public for decades! That is an important distinction. And, it shows, with all due respect, that Erickson was not the guy to do this report. They went back and studied 30 years of our use of good time and concluded our whole prison system sucks. Was that a good use of commission time? No.
No one can get around the simple fact that these guys were going to get out shortly. Keeping them 37 days longer would not have decreased risk to the public. And most importantly, they didn’t want to do it. They had to do it to relieve overcrowding. They were set on doing this before Randle even got here. It was a given that Illinois had to release prisoners. Now, since this is no longer on the table, it is a given that Illinois has to raise taxes to keep them in.
southern Illinoisan, Although I normally respect your posts and I think we agree on a lot more than you think, but I am disappointed by your latest. You know how overcrowded prisons are, and yet budgets have been cut. There is not enough staff to even walk a volunteer down the hall to teach a class. You also know that Randle’s whole concept is that a DOC should be judged by how well they return citizens to citizenship and we need to rehabilitate these people. But, where do you expect Randle to get the money to do a bunch of new education hires? Should we raise taxes?
- Will County Woman - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 3:11 pm:
Robert, so why should anyone be sentenced to prison then? the american criminal justice system is a joke in many respects. and it is particularly displeasing and offensive when someone who is (rightly) convited of a crime gets let out early.
when you read a story about a murderer who days before his 18th birthday brags about shooting up an area where two little girls were innocently at play, and who asked if he saw the little girls, cavierly states that he did see the little girls playing, but didn’t care and decided to shoot anyway, do you think law-abiding society is supposed to care that someone like him is crammed into a prison cell no larger than a typical parking lot space?
the money that is spent to incacerate one felon is IDOC is frankly way too much imho, especially when one stops to consider that in a lot of cases going to prison is like going to a high school reunion for convicted felons, with the added perks of three sqaure meals and tax payer subsidized healthcare, cable tv, utlities etc.
also, considering where some of the felons come from, prison confines are a step-up, even if ovecrowded. if they are mentally it for example, prison beats the streets and scavaging for meals. and, many felons come from ‘homes’ that are overcrowded with extended family members etc.
if you want to talk about only non-violent drug possession felons or retail theft getting released early to save money and space, sure. ok. but, that is not what happened in Illinois under the Quinn administration’s MGT Push.
Murderers never qualify for any reduction of their sentence. If they are sentenced to 60 years, they will serve 60 years if they live that long. No early release for them ever.
A little more than 5,600 inmates — 14 percent of the total prison population — are there for non-violent crimes. They are in prison for such offenses as disorderly conduct (50), shoplifting (1,076), vehicle code violations (640)etc.
The largest single category of crime is, of course, drugs. More than 10,000 people are in prison for possession or sale of marijuana or other illicit substances.
Perhaps at least some of these individuals would qualify for the six-month sentence reduction provided by the early release programs.
Will County Woman,
Please tell me that you will just do some basic research about the situation of mentally ill people in prison. It is not better. The prisons are unequipped to deal with them, and they not only become victims there, but they go into a downward spiral from breaking rules they can’t follow. Wardens across the country cry out for help because they can’t treat or handle these people and they have to throw them in segregation where they have a high rate of suicide and their illnesses worsen. Please don’t be flippant about this issue–it is a major criminal justice catastrophe, recognized by Republicans and Dems alike.
Everything else you said is also deeply incorrect, but I’ll leave it at that.
35,000 prisoners are released from IDOC custody each year. 1700 who had been in prison on non-violent or minor charges, received slightly shorter sentences because director Randle decided not to require them to serve a minimum 60 days in IDOC custody. The average sentence was reduced by just 36 days. Can anyone seriously state that this was a blunder of such proportions that an election campaign should be waged on it? In fact, I don’t think it was a blunder at all, except by the press that has focussed on it instead of the real issues — dangerously overcrowded prisons, lack of rehabilitation and re-entry programs, and a prison costs that are helping to bankrupt us!
Bottom line is Randle dropped the ball, he is not qualified to handle the IDOC plain and simple. I’m a good Democrat and will vote in the upcoming November Election. However, I will cast my vote for Brady just because he said that Randle will be the first one he fires.
I agree with downstater, this issue resonates well with the conservative democrats that have had enough of the Randle and Quinn fiasco.
Robert, if you are an expert in this what do you suggest other than coming in here and telling us how bad overcrowding is? Are you on Randle’s side to accelerate release of inmates?
- Will County Woman - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 4:37 pm:
Robert , let me be clear that I do not like most (i.e. 99.9 percent) violent criminals. and, no matter how hard you or other prison reform advocates try, the public at-large doesn’t care and won’t care about the inconvencies and harsh living conditions that prison inmates have to endure, particuarly when so many inmates are where they are because they showed little regard for the inconvenice that they inflicted upon others during the commission of a crime.
the publicized early release that quinn touted was supposed to inlcuded non-violent offenders. as you will recall the plan as presented was well-received. you and i probably agree that drug possession, where no other crimes have been comitted, should not be punishable by incaceration. I agree that these cases/convictions are wasting time and resources. I would welcome a change to some/most of the drug possession sentences.
I’ll hazard a guess that on everything else you and i disagree. I think max facilities should be very harsh and on lockdown for 23 hours a day w/ 1 hr privilges for library and exercise facilities only.
quinn convieniently negelcted to tell the public about the secret program and for obvious reason. as we found out that people convicted of domestic violence offenses were among those released early (MGT Push).
oh, and the murder illustration in my previous post was just to highlight that i doubt you’ll find much sympathy among the public about prison inmates being inconvenienced or having to endure uncomfortable living arrangements while in prison.
@Dan Bureaucrat, many mentally ill who commit crimes in fact know the difference between right and wrong, and the consequences of doing wrong. also, I have always supported Tamms for the violent mentally ill (rapists, murders, etc) and I will continue to do so. I also agree with the idea of keeping violent mentally ill prisoners sedated so that they can’t harm others, especially IDOC personnel.
The public will care when the Illinoisprison system bankrupts the state with public saftey not improved one tenny bit. We need programs, effetive monitoring and support for those leaving prisons and a cyhange to allow them to work. Seems to be maybe some people like union, contractors and building want more prisons. And politicat8ns like Brady just feed the frenzy. If this continues all of us will be broke and at risk.
- dumb ol' country boy - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 5:29 pm:
Director Randle is “out of touch” with the prisons and its staff. He doesn’t know what is going on inside his prisons thru out the state. He has some of the gov’s staff running the department, instead of people who would have some sort of correctional or law enforcement background. So the gov does know whats happening, his people are there, the Director is not running nothing. Things are not getting reported to springfield etc.. like they should. Kind of funny you are relying on convicted felons to behave so you do not get “bad press.” One would think you would want qualified people in those jobs. All these prisons and only 2 deputy directors to oversee them and visit them, i thought we left those days when Michal P.Lane left the agency…. Bring back Tom Page, he can run a prison and this agency…..
In response to Dan Bureaucrat: No we should not raise taxes! We should PRIORITIZE the hiring of staff. That was the point I was attemting to make. DOC is hiring staff under Randle. It is obvious we need more security staff to lower OT cost and maintain safety.
But what about hiring maint staff such as a painter making 50K a year, but no money to buy paint? Or 1 facilty who recently hired another electrician and for over 20 years there had been only 1 electrician on the headcount for the prison. Or instead of automating the timekeeping system most facilities pay at least 2 clerical staff to do the work. I could go on and on about the waste and corruption within our DOC, but in answering your question - it is a matter of priorities and the IDOC’s are way out of whack!
We need Basic Ed and GED to at least teach the fundamenatls to inmates before they return home. If Director Randle claims education is vital in the rehab of inmates then he should stop wasting money on non-critical jobs and staff education.
JB, I’m not sure you are correct. One, the budget would have to include money to operate Thompson, and two, Rs would then have to vote for the budget, not something we have been doing much of lately.
You say you want violent offenders to remain in their cells 23 hours a day. Your wish is granted.
Maximum security inmates — murderers, rapists and other truly violent offenders — typically get five hours of yard time a week. They also can use the law library on a limited basis. Most max security inmates never get visitors, so they are never out of the cell for that activity. Since there are virtually no educational or rehabilitative programs for them, they are never out of their cells for those activities. They are pretty much warehoused in their cells 23 hours a day.
You and I both agree that drug possession cases should not end with time in state prison. We may agree on more issues than you would suspect.
For Tony: We need a rational early release program for non-violent offenders. The people in prison for disturbing the peace, for vehicle code violations, for possessing 72 tablets of Valium and no prescription, for people with a month left to their sentence — I don’t think they belong in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Again, if you are interested in prison issues, please go to the John Howard Association website at http://www.thejha.org/
If you like, you can sign up there to receive the reports that my colleagues and I write. You will get the same research and first-hand observations as the media and lawmakers and correctional professionals receive from us.
And yes, that is a total plug. You might not agree with what you see and read from the John Howard Association.
But I believe you will be shocked at the increase of people in prison since early release was eliminated. I am.
Folks, how much can we miss the point here?
We could not afford to open Thomson during an economic boom!
Twice Blago tried to close a prison which absolutely had to be done for budget reasons, but he couldnt for political reasons.
The now the same budget crisis + recession is the reason the IDOC had to release prisoners, and the reason it is a trend in other states.
Do you realize that someone has to pay for all the laws that we pass to fill up prisons? I know the legislators don’t realize that, or they don’t care, but let’s just keep that in mind for Rich’s sake.
You refer to “violent criminals” and “violent mentally ill” rapists and killers and all the rest as if that has anything to do with the issue Rich has raised. It has nothing to do with that. The people released through MGT-push were convicted of relatively minor crimes and were serving short sentences, shortened by just 36 days! If we can’t clear space in the prisons by letting them out — as well as the 1,000 shoplifters and 5,000 caught with marijuana — we’ll be locking up more and more and more each year, until the bursting prisons explode in rage.
Robert Manor, actually, the murderer in prison thing is a bit
more complicated. there are people in Illinois prisons sentenced under several sets of criminal laws. the criminal laws that were
in effect when they were sentenced govern how they are treated
regarding time served, when and how they get out, hearings,
etc. that is why you sometimes hear about parole hearings which is not what they are called now and occur with different
rulings.
also, under Thompson the issue was that the IDOC director
at his discretion gave multiples of the day for day good time
that was a standard for most in. there was no law that allowed that and here we are today with related confusion.
Amalia, you are quite right of course. I was referring to people sentenced in recent years and oversimplified the matter.
One interesting group of about 270 inmates, those sentenced prior to 1978 to indeterminate sentences, can be paroled. These are men in their 50s to their 80s, nearly all serving sentences for murder.
Known as the C# inmates (their prison id’s start with the letter C,) they very rarely actually are paroled, however.
According to Aviva Futorian, a John Howard Association board member and expert on C# inmates, three have been paroled this year. Last year, she said, the Prisoner Review Board released eight or nine.
Some C#’s are model inmates and deserving of parole. People over 50 rarely commit a new offense, people over 60 almost never do.
- the Patriot - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:45 am:
This is a fine example of Quinn’s lack of leadership. This wasn’t a little problem, the guy put dangerous people on the street and we are all still at risk because of it. It is a prime example of how Quinn lacks either the intellect or the fortitude to right the ship. You cannot see this and vote for Quinn.
It may be a good message for whoever wins in November. I suspect Quinn can’t fire Randle because he doesn’t want Randle doing talk shows and telling the world the reality of DOC.
For a long time DOC has been a dumping ground for political hires in administrative positions. The director is told to hide these clowns, but keep more inmates in prison with less money. Something had to give. The only solution is for the governor, Brady or Quinn to eliminate at least 100 or so of these positions and hire 200 guards for 1/2 the salary. you will offset cost with the salary swap and save money with the OT reductions.
- Dan Bureaucrat - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:46 am:
The IDOC did NOT want to do this program. They were talking abot releasing 11,000 prisoners before Randle even got there! They had to because of dangerous overcrowding and no money to pay for it. How this happened was actually explained at the press conference. There was no single problem. It was murky. Quinn said one thing and the law said another. Remember people, this was a perfectly legal use of MGT.
The commission report said that the good time program has routinely been used to relieve prison overcrowding for the past 30 years. The commission report was truly a waste for many reasons, but especially because it doesn’t address our current crisis. We are at record levels of overcrowding, and that is why they implemented MGT Push. That hasn’t changed. It has gotten worse. Brady has no answer to this except cutting cable television? And cutting the IDOC budget even more which will make the problem worse, and endanger correctional officers, staff and prisoners alike. Brady has no way out of this crisis…he doesn’t even grasp the problem.
Randle is not being fired because he is doing an excellent job streamling and updating the IDOC in spite of no money and crisis levels of overcrowding.
And the press has done a terrible job of reporting on this, but here are the facts. MGT Push did not endanger the public. The people were released an average of 37 days later than they would have released anyway. Whatver risk they pose is the exact same risk that they would have posed 37 days later. Duh.
- Adam Smith - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:49 am:
This is the kind of stubborness that is killing Quinn’s chances. He is so sure he’s always right and belittles anyone who disagrees with him.
Quinn is proving again that he is completely tone deaf when it comes to politics.
He truly thinks that the public just isn’t smart enough to see the wisdom of his policies and calls his opponents derogatory names.
If that’s the way to turn around a 60% negative job performance rating then it will be a big surprise.
- OneMan - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:49 am:
I so don’t get Quinn’s loyalty to this guy
- John Bambenek - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:51 am:
At this rate, Pat Quinn could lose by Alan Keyes margins…
Also, glad to hear Wright was fired. Hopefully Gilbert Jimenez gets his walking papers too.
- wordslinger - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:52 am:
It’s a powerful negative.
- keeler - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:52 am:
Quinn has never shown loyalty to any staff person ever. Remember when he fired his staff before Topinka took over as Treasurer in 1995.
Randle must have something on Quinn or somebody high up.
“What is he thinking”
- bartelby - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:55 am:
I am sorry you guys, but MGT is a phony issue. Every state in the union has some version of MGT, and Illinois’ system was started by Thomson (the Republican!) in 1978. The average time that sentences were reduced in this case was just 36 days; does anyone really believe that those extra few days in prison — and w/o time for rehab — will actually change a sinner into a saint?
Of course a few released prisoner re-offended; the recidivism rate in Illinois is 50%! Unless we want the state to go even more broke than it already is, we have to be able to release prisoners who have received good-time credits. The key however — and Brady has nothing to say about this — is to offer education, drug counseling, rehabilitation and job training. Randle is trying to do just this, but the constant sniping from the Republicans, and Quinn’s excessive defensiveness doesn’t help.
My job has nothing to do with corrections, police or anything like it, but I am interested in what happens to people in prison, and have been following all this closely. Brady would be a disaster for Illinois!
- unclesam - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:58 am:
– “Quinn’s chief of staff, Jerry Stermer, said Friday he was present last summer and fall when the governor told Randle he was not to release violent offenders under MGT Push.” –
So, the Governor was not only aware of the MGT Push program, Quinn and his CoS were involved in the details of the program and how it was to be administered.
So, again, it is proven that Quinn lied that when he said he “did not know” about the program.
IMO, that’s a more serious indictment against this administration.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:59 am:
===At this rate, Pat Quinn could lose by Alan Keyes margins…===
And your evidence is what? A mid-August, 2004 Tribune poll had Keyes scoring less than a quarter of the vote. He got 27 percent.
- Will County Woman - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:59 am:
The online Trib has a VERY handsome photo of Brady up with this Randle/MGT push issue. I can’t wait for Quinn and Brady to debate. Not only are their positions in start contrast, so is their appearance. But, I digress.
The explanations given by the Quinn administration on Friday seemed strange. When MGT Push was first exposed Quinn stated he didn’t know anything about it and that no such program existed. days later he acknowleged being aware of the program. yet, on friday administration officials all admit be fully aware from the start. so, i’m not sure why quinn initially tried deny that MGT push existed. next, the adminstration says it issued a clear directive that no violent criminals be released. I find it hard to believe that the administration was that explicit and that key directive did not filter down and was not carried out. at issue for quinn was that he had two early release programs opertaing simultaneously: one he informed the public about and one he didn’t. the one he informed the public about led to the release of people with serious dui records, and he re-incacerated them after a scathing sun-times editorial. i’m not sure why the administration saw fit to reveal in advance one early release program, but not the other. i can only surmise that the intent was to release people that had the public been informed in advance would have caused an uproar. hence, it was kept secret.
top quinn administration officials were all aware of the ramifications of MGT push politically vis a vis the public saftey concern issue. the administration officials are all old enough to remember what willie horton did to dukakis in his bid for the presdiency in 1988. they knew the risk, and took it anyway all to save a few dollars, which they actually didn’t save.
i’m pretty sure that both early release programs resulted in no net-savings of any kind and actually cost the state more money than had well enough been left alone.
- John Bambenek - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:04 am:
Rich-
Your sarcasm detector is broken.
- John - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:07 am:
The real threat to Illinois safety is not early release, but its overcrowded prisons. Randle was using tools the legislature gave him to deal with this problem. That’s why Quinn hired him.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:08 am:
===MGT is a phony issue===
We’re talking about MGT Push here. There’s a difference. Take some time and read, don’t just continually spew the same old talking points.
- Louis Howe - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:13 am:
Randle needs to go, but Quinn is far from blameless. It was Quinn who placed inexperienced public safety staff from his Lt. Governor’s office as deputy governors to oversee the Dept. of Corrections. It’s a classic mistake. They “didn’t know what they didn’t know” and failed to asked critical follow up questions of Randle. So who is to blame? In my opinion, it’s Quinn
- Bill - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:14 am:
==is to offer education, drug counseling, rehabilitation and job training.==
Oh, please! How about giving them a new car,a prostitute, and some drugs? Yeah, that might work.
- John - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:18 am:
MGT Push was a form of early release authorized by the legislature. The only thing Randle did in instituting MGT Push was drop a department policy that required inmates serve 60 days before getting any good time. This policy resulted in a significant waste of limited resources with no public safety benefit.
I’m not saying that the laws don’t need reform. They do. But Randle didn’t write them.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:19 am:
===But Randle didn’t write them. ===
No. He just used his discretion to set a whole bunch of violent prisoners loose. Heckuva job, Mikey.
- Ghost - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:25 am:
I echo my comment from earlier,Quinn is going to protect Randle at the epense of losing this election, at which point brady will sack Randle. So Quinn isnt doing the guy any favors.
Sack Randle, and if Quinn wins the elxtion he can help him land somewhere.
At this point Quinn is stiking to his guns on the one thing he needs to give in on, and giving in on all the things he needed to stick to his guns on. he has backed off of every threat he made during the bdget process to cut and share pain to make the budget work, including educational grants etc.
The only thing he has stuck to is protecting Randle, and making the hand full of State employees who are responsible for manging the day to day operations take huge pay cuts.
- Loop Lady - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:27 am:
I don’t know if Quinn should be commended for his loyalty, or kicked in the can for his stubborness on this issue…I am so confused….
- bartelby - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:29 am:
VIZ MGT — Not talkng points
1. The crimes of the prisoners who received MGT were almost entirely NOT violent, though some had prior violent records. (That never stopped MGT before.)
2. The average released time was 36 days. Do you really think that would have made a difference in the behavior of the prisoners once released?
3. The newly legislated restrictions on MGT will cost the state 64 million bucks! Do you want to fire police, firefighters and teachers so that we can keep a few prisoners locked up extra month?
- John - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:30 am:
Based on powers granted to him by the legislature, Randle released people who would have served on average a little more than 30 days more than they were sentenced to.
The state can’t afford to give these inmates any kind of rehabilitative programming.
Realistically, the only thing that would have likely happened in those 30 days is that inmates would have sat in overcrowded prison and learned to commit new crimes from their cellmates.
- Amalia - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:36 am:
is deanne benos still with IDOC?
- zatoichi - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:38 am:
I have worked for some big companies and small ones. At each place, the top management teams get together and review the top issues they are facing, positive and negative. CEO also meets with key leaders to go over any controversial items. If the CEO gets hit with some major issue that was never discussed in a management meeting, someone caught serious grief. Is it expecting too much that a Governor gets together with his agency directors for regular state of the state meetings? How can the state function without knowing what the top team members are facing? This entire MGT issue would have surely ranked as a top Corrections topic for any management team review.
- Amalia - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:57 am:
what happened to IDOC execs under Thompson? their
release program resulted in injuries to persons and
a lawsuit.
- One of the 35 - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:03 pm:
I think we can speculate on what is really going on here. Randle, based upon the order of Quinn, implements an early release program to save money. The program has serious consequences. Quinn refuses to hang Randle out to dry because he told him to do the program. That could be why we are seeing all this illogical tap dancing.
- Dan Bureaucrat - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:07 pm:
He did not let a bunch of violent prisoners loose! That is simply ridiculous. By the way, did you have a problem with these same people getting out 37 days later?!
The guy that committed the horrible tragic murder in Peoria was in for a minor crime. He was let out after a minor parole violation. As the Republican chair of the PRB said, “We could not build enough prisons to keep guys with minor parole violations inside.”
How can you people try to blame people in parole and corrections for humans who commit terrible crimes? These people are actually trying to lower the recidivism rate with NO help from a set of delusional legislators who can’t solve long-term problems for fear that any grasp on reality will cost them the election. Shame on you. Brady will stop paying the bill on cable TV, which not only costs almost nothing, but improves safety. Great.
- bartelby - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:08 pm:
hey Amalia,
the MGT program was modified by Govs. Edgar, Ryan and Blago. The point is that MGT-push only removed the informal restriction that guys had to serve 60 days in prison before they were eligible. (They all already served much more than that in local jails.)
This program did not release people serving sentences for violent crimes, though some had violent priors. (That had always been the way it was done.) Now, because of poor reporting and partisan politics, we have the worst of everything: there is STILL little or no money for rehab. or counseling, AND guys are staying in longer, costing the state 10s of millions of extra money (we don’t have) each year. I say keep Randle, and give him a chance to reform the system. (The Vera Institute will soon issue a report on it.)
- John Bambenek - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:13 pm:
The prisons are overcrowded? When they were talking about selling Thomson, the prisons were under-utilized… I never can tell where exactly the prison population is… too much or too few.
Maybe an audit should be done.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:14 pm:
===He did not let a bunch of violent prisoners loose! That is simply ridiculous. ===
Even the administration’s own analysis showed MGT Push endangered public safety because of the type of people that was let loose. You just can’t see anything that conflicts with your own crazy world view.
- Wacker Drive - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:16 pm:
Sounds like the Illinois Tollway shenanigans …..
- Loop Lady - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:16 pm:
O of the 35 assessment of this sounds very likely the closest to what could be the truth on this scenario.
It is off topic, but can anyone answer Amalia’s query? I have not seen her aound JRTC of late…
- Realproblem - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:23 pm:
The cover up.
- Ghost - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:24 pm:
DOC went through a major overhaul with most of the higher ups and wardens being canned when Snyder was brought in (following the Speck tapes)
- Wacker Drive - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:24 pm:
James A. Wright was @ the Illinois Tollway sweeping everything under the carpet for Blagojevich and company. Guys like him always end up with a better gig.
- Wensicia - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:25 pm:
Quinn is politically blind, his actions are so at odds with his message, which he goes back on time and again, I really can’t get what he’s thinking. Does he really believe he will win this election, while making so many foolish mistakes? Or does he believe Illinois voters are fools?
- Adam Smith - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:26 pm:
As per usual, the Quinn appologists are just digging the hole deeper.
The excuses and equivocation will just make this worse. I’m so sorry if the world isn’t fair. The public wants convicts to serve more time rather than less. Period. Overcrowding? Budget crunch? The public doesn’t care.
As if the abject financial mismanagement of the state (continued and exacerbated by Quinn) wasn’t enough to put Brady in the mansion, Quinn seems Hell-bent on handing the GOP another sure fire issue for the fall.
- John - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:32 pm:
==Even the administration’s own analysis showed MGT Push endangered public safety because of the type of people that was let loose.==
The only thing MGT Push endangered was Quinn’s political career.
==The prisons are overcrowded?==
Since the suspension of the early release programs, IL has added more than 2,000 inmates to its prisons. That increase is the equivalent to a large prison. Today, IL’s prison population is quickly nearing 50 thousand, a record high.
This increase has occurred at a time when most states have seen their prison population drop.
The real question IL faces is not a now-dead early release program–it is how can it afford to pay for its prisons? Erickson’s report pointed to some necessary reforms, but offered no real insight into how we are going to address the crippling costs of incarceration.
- Anonymous - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:40 pm:
Pat Brady is often described as an “empty suit” and this is for sure accurate on his knowledge of prison issues. Brady does know how to play gutter politics. Reality is prison are overcrowded, almost 3,000 added in past six months, six out of every ten return to prison, programs are few and far between. The General Assembly passes “lock em and keep em forever” laws and then steps away for Get real!!! The DOC cant even track prisoners b/c of rotten computer system with 27 systems that cant talk with each other. Will the Republicans approved delayed maintanence money. NOOOO
Other states namely New York has actaully reduced prison population, saved money and has public safety as top priority. It is working. This is the path Michael Randle is trying to turn this bureaucracy and he just might be savvy enough to do If power hungry republicans will leave him alone. Quinn deserves much credit for sticking with Randle as he is best hope to keep prison growth from bankrupting the state.
- nick - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:44 pm:
benos is gone and has been for a while.
- cassandra - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:50 pm:
At this point, who would take the job pre-election. Less effort for Quinn if he just leaves Randle in place with some oversight, especially as Quinn himself pparently has decided to tolerate the political risk that such a decision entails. Also, I presume we are paying for more than one or two “central office” types from the executive branch to keep an eye on the management of the prisons, as well.
The costs of running the Illinois prisons system are becomingly increasingly burdensome. As others have pointed out, early release and other initiatives are being tried across the country–it’s a national initiative. Whoever is responsible, the most unfortunate part of this whole debacle for us citizens will likely be significant delays in innovation with respect to prison reform in Illinois.
- John Bambenek - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:51 pm:
Anon-
I’m sure the republicans would approve opening Thomson for some of those over-crowded prisons… you know, the building we already own and has been sitting empty for years…
- Demoralized - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:54 pm:
Quinn is not going to tick off the black people, especially the Black Caucus in the General Assembly, by canning Randle. You can also see his new pander to the latino crowd with his Executive Inspector General appointment. Nothing against the guy, but you know how things work. Find a qualified person that fits your political need at the time.
Also, Anonymous @12:40, I’m not sure which planet you are from b/c your comments are silly. By the way, the Brady running for Governor is Bill Brady. Try and keep up.
- Will County Woman - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 12:56 pm:
John, upon being released some of the MGT-Pushees committed new crimes. One is even suspected/accused in the killing of a Peoria woman. So, yes public saftey was in fact endangered.
Let’s also keep in mind that right around the time the AP story broke about MGT Push, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee was under fire for a decision he made, while governor, to release someone with a lengthy criminal background who ultimately went on to hunt down and murder police officers in Washington (Seattle area?). Sure, it could be argued that Huckabee had no way of knowing that years later the guy was going to go on a killing spree in another state. But, had Huckabee not granted clemency the guy, he would’ve still been in prison in 2009 rather than free to go on the killing spree that he did. Whatever presidential aspirations Huckabee may have had, he no longer has after this episode late last year.
In addition to that, in Sept or October 2009 when Quinn announced and bragged about the non-secret early prison release program, the Gov of Wisconsin was considering releasing prisoners early too,but acknowledged the for sure concerns and risks associated with such a move. I’m not sure if followed through with his plan, though.
- southern illinoisan - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 1:00 pm:
Director Randle has done virtually nothing to enhance education, sub abuse, rehab and job training since he took over IDOC. I am employed at IDOC, so I know first hand what is happening.
There have been hundreds of positions at IDOC filled since Randle started. Many were critcal vacancies that were needed. Many were not. I can cite example afte example, but I will give you one in particular. Vienna CC is a minimum security facility with a pop. of over 1400 inmates. Most will be paroled within 2 years. There are 2 teachers there to teach Basic Education and GED. That’s right — 2 teachers. Now, if Education was such a high priority for Randle don’t you think he would see that teschers were hired instead of maint and clerical staff?
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 1:04 pm:
Rich,
I am still wondering when this report was finished? How long has someone been sitting on the report? Days, weeks, months?
- John - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 1:15 pm:
–southern illinoisan–The source of your problem is not Randle, but the budget and lack of resources. The DOC does not control how much state funds it gets. I know, for example, that the community colleges that run post-secondary and vocational programming almost pulled out of the prisons not because DOC or Randle did not want them, but because the state was not paying for services rendered.
- John Bambenek - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 1:19 pm:
Cincy-
Looking at the metadata of the PDF, it was generated 10am on Friday. Doesn’t mean the word doc they used wasn’t done earlier, but they didn’t do the finishing touches until Friday.
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 1:20 pm:
The judge’s father was ill, I’m told, so that was the latest reason for the delay.
- Cool Hand Luke - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 1:20 pm:
Illinois voters have to be struggling (in disbelief) as Pat Quinn continues to try to convince us that his choice of Michael Randle to head up the Illinois Corrections System was and still is “the best choice”. If Governor Quinn had been the Governor of Louisiana when BP created one of the worst ecological disasters in history, many of us feel that “somehow” Quinn would have found a way to praise BP for their ability to avoid red tape and take shortcuts in finding new sources of oil.
- Cincinnatus - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 1:27 pm:
John & Rich,
Yuz guyz really think it took 8 months to prepare this report?
- Rich Miller - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 1:30 pm:
No. I’m just giving you the latest excuse for the delay.
- John - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 1:42 pm:
- Will County Woman–While I believe in rehabilitation, there is no denying the fact that inmates are a high-risk, dangerous population. After leaving prison, many people will commit new crimes and return. Early release does not cause this problem. In fact, there is good evidence that when low-risk offenders are incarcerated with high-risk offenders, they are more likely to commit new crimes when they get out.
That’s in part why I would argue that a more limited use of prisons will actually make the public safer. If we could finds ways to incarcerate less people–reserve prisons for dangerous, violent offenders–we’d have more money to spend on education, job training programs, and other forms of proven crime prevention. But this does not mean that a more limited use of prisons will make us absolutely safe–because no correction policy can do that.
- Robert - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 2:07 pm:
My name is Robert Manor and I am the Prison & Jail Monitor for the John Howard Association, a prison reform group. I have been in 10 prisons this year, examining and reporting on conditions.
I can tell you with authority that the prisons are grossly overcrowded. Cells designed to hold one inmate typically hold two. The average cell is smaller than a supermarket parking spot.
This morning there were a record 47,704 inmates in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections, up more than 2,000 since January. This unprecedented increase is largely due to the elimination of early release programs and shows no sign of abating.
It costs approximately $25,000 a year for Illinois to incarcerate someone. You do the math.
If you would like to learn more about prison conditions, visit our website at http://www.thejha.org/
- Dan Bureaucrat - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 2:52 pm:
Rich, I am a Republican (the old kind), and a fiscal conservative. Historically, I think we have been shown not to have a crazy world view. As for MGT Push, I understand why people are saying what they are saying, but the misinformation is as thick as tar, and that is in large part because Quinn has just clamped down and refused to defend or explain what he did.
What the commission report actually says is that all MGT is dangerous, and that people should not be released on ANY good time ever (MGT or MGT Push) unless they get rehabilitation. So according to Erickson, not only did MGT Push endanger the public, but so did ordinary MGT as utilized by all past administrations for decades… they conclude that we have been endangering the public for decades! That is an important distinction. And, it shows, with all due respect, that Erickson was not the guy to do this report. They went back and studied 30 years of our use of good time and concluded our whole prison system sucks. Was that a good use of commission time? No.
No one can get around the simple fact that these guys were going to get out shortly. Keeping them 37 days longer would not have decreased risk to the public. And most importantly, they didn’t want to do it. They had to do it to relieve overcrowding. They were set on doing this before Randle even got here. It was a given that Illinois had to release prisoners. Now, since this is no longer on the table, it is a given that Illinois has to raise taxes to keep them in.
- Dan Bureaucrat - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 2:59 pm:
southern Illinoisan, Although I normally respect your posts and I think we agree on a lot more than you think, but I am disappointed by your latest. You know how overcrowded prisons are, and yet budgets have been cut. There is not enough staff to even walk a volunteer down the hall to teach a class. You also know that Randle’s whole concept is that a DOC should be judged by how well they return citizens to citizenship and we need to rehabilitate these people. But, where do you expect Randle to get the money to do a bunch of new education hires? Should we raise taxes?
- Will County Woman - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 3:11 pm:
Robert, so why should anyone be sentenced to prison then? the american criminal justice system is a joke in many respects. and it is particularly displeasing and offensive when someone who is (rightly) convited of a crime gets let out early.
when you read a story about a murderer who days before his 18th birthday brags about shooting up an area where two little girls were innocently at play, and who asked if he saw the little girls, cavierly states that he did see the little girls playing, but didn’t care and decided to shoot anyway, do you think law-abiding society is supposed to care that someone like him is crammed into a prison cell no larger than a typical parking lot space?
the money that is spent to incacerate one felon is IDOC is frankly way too much imho, especially when one stops to consider that in a lot of cases going to prison is like going to a high school reunion for convicted felons, with the added perks of three sqaure meals and tax payer subsidized healthcare, cable tv, utlities etc.
also, considering where some of the felons come from, prison confines are a step-up, even if ovecrowded. if they are mentally it for example, prison beats the streets and scavaging for meals. and, many felons come from ‘homes’ that are overcrowded with extended family members etc.
if you want to talk about only non-violent drug possession felons or retail theft getting released early to save money and space, sure. ok. but, that is not what happened in Illinois under the Quinn administration’s MGT Push.
- Robert Manor - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 3:36 pm:
Will County Woman,
A couple of facts that might interest you.
Murderers never qualify for any reduction of their sentence. If they are sentenced to 60 years, they will serve 60 years if they live that long. No early release for them ever.
A little more than 5,600 inmates — 14 percent of the total prison population — are there for non-violent crimes. They are in prison for such offenses as disorderly conduct (50), shoplifting (1,076), vehicle code violations (640)etc.
The largest single category of crime is, of course, drugs. More than 10,000 people are in prison for possession or sale of marijuana or other illicit substances.
Perhaps at least some of these individuals would qualify for the six-month sentence reduction provided by the early release programs.
- Dan Bureaucrat - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 3:45 pm:
Will County Woman,
Please tell me that you will just do some basic research about the situation of mentally ill people in prison. It is not better. The prisons are unequipped to deal with them, and they not only become victims there, but they go into a downward spiral from breaking rules they can’t follow. Wardens across the country cry out for help because they can’t treat or handle these people and they have to throw them in segregation where they have a high rate of suicide and their illnesses worsen. Please don’t be flippant about this issue–it is a major criminal justice catastrophe, recognized by Republicans and Dems alike.
Everything else you said is also deeply incorrect, but I’ll leave it at that.
- queequeg - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 3:52 pm:
35,000 prisoners are released from IDOC custody each year. 1700 who had been in prison on non-violent or minor charges, received slightly shorter sentences because director Randle decided not to require them to serve a minimum 60 days in IDOC custody. The average sentence was reduced by just 36 days. Can anyone seriously state that this was a blunder of such proportions that an election campaign should be waged on it? In fact, I don’t think it was a blunder at all, except by the press that has focussed on it instead of the real issues — dangerously overcrowded prisons, lack of rehabilitation and re-entry programs, and a prison costs that are helping to bankrupt us!
- downstater - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 3:52 pm:
Bottom line is Randle dropped the ball, he is not qualified to handle the IDOC plain and simple. I’m a good Democrat and will vote in the upcoming November Election. However, I will cast my vote for Brady just because he said that Randle will be the first one he fires.
- Tony - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 4:35 pm:
I agree with downstater, this issue resonates well with the conservative democrats that have had enough of the Randle and Quinn fiasco.
Robert, if you are an expert in this what do you suggest other than coming in here and telling us how bad overcrowding is? Are you on Randle’s side to accelerate release of inmates?
- Will County Woman - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 4:37 pm:
Robert , let me be clear that I do not like most (i.e. 99.9 percent) violent criminals. and, no matter how hard you or other prison reform advocates try, the public at-large doesn’t care and won’t care about the inconvencies and harsh living conditions that prison inmates have to endure, particuarly when so many inmates are where they are because they showed little regard for the inconvenice that they inflicted upon others during the commission of a crime.
the publicized early release that quinn touted was supposed to inlcuded non-violent offenders. as you will recall the plan as presented was well-received. you and i probably agree that drug possession, where no other crimes have been comitted, should not be punishable by incaceration. I agree that these cases/convictions are wasting time and resources. I would welcome a change to some/most of the drug possession sentences.
I’ll hazard a guess that on everything else you and i disagree. I think max facilities should be very harsh and on lockdown for 23 hours a day w/ 1 hr privilges for library and exercise facilities only.
quinn convieniently negelcted to tell the public about the secret program and for obvious reason. as we found out that people convicted of domestic violence offenses were among those released early (MGT Push).
oh, and the murder illustration in my previous post was just to highlight that i doubt you’ll find much sympathy among the public about prison inmates being inconvenienced or having to endure uncomfortable living arrangements while in prison.
@Dan Bureaucrat, many mentally ill who commit crimes in fact know the difference between right and wrong, and the consequences of doing wrong. also, I have always supported Tamms for the violent mentally ill (rapists, murders, etc) and I will continue to do so. I also agree with the idea of keeping violent mentally ill prisoners sedated so that they can’t harm others, especially IDOC personnel.
- Anonymous - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 4:54 pm:
The public will care when the Illinoisprison system bankrupts the state with public saftey not improved one tenny bit. We need programs, effetive monitoring and support for those leaving prisons and a cyhange to allow them to work. Seems to be maybe some people like union, contractors and building want more prisons. And politicat8ns like Brady just feed the frenzy. If this continues all of us will be broke and at risk.
- dumb ol' country boy - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 5:29 pm:
Director Randle is “out of touch” with the prisons and its staff. He doesn’t know what is going on inside his prisons thru out the state. He has some of the gov’s staff running the department, instead of people who would have some sort of correctional or law enforcement background. So the gov does know whats happening, his people are there, the Director is not running nothing. Things are not getting reported to springfield etc.. like they should. Kind of funny you are relying on convicted felons to behave so you do not get “bad press.” One would think you would want qualified people in those jobs. All these prisons and only 2 deputy directors to oversee them and visit them, i thought we left those days when Michal P.Lane left the agency…. Bring back Tom Page, he can run a prison and this agency…..
- Barton Lorimor - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 8:04 pm:
Rich,
I tried to ask Quinn about Randle when he visited SI Airport last month. He said, “I’m here to talk about aviation.”
- southern illinoisan - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 8:50 pm:
In response to Dan Bureaucrat: No we should not raise taxes! We should PRIORITIZE the hiring of staff. That was the point I was attemting to make. DOC is hiring staff under Randle. It is obvious we need more security staff to lower OT cost and maintain safety.
But what about hiring maint staff such as a painter making 50K a year, but no money to buy paint? Or 1 facilty who recently hired another electrician and for over 20 years there had been only 1 electrician on the headcount for the prison. Or instead of automating the timekeeping system most facilities pay at least 2 clerical staff to do the work. I could go on and on about the waste and corruption within our DOC, but in answering your question - it is a matter of priorities and the IDOC’s are way out of whack!
We need Basic Ed and GED to at least teach the fundamenatls to inmates before they return home. If Director Randle claims education is vital in the rehab of inmates then he should stop wasting money on non-critical jobs and staff education.
- steve schnorf - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 9:13 pm:
JB, I’m not sure you are correct. One, the budget would have to include money to operate Thompson, and two, Rs would then have to vote for the budget, not something we have been doing much of lately.
- Robert Manor - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:06 pm:
For Will County Woman,
You say you want violent offenders to remain in their cells 23 hours a day. Your wish is granted.
Maximum security inmates — murderers, rapists and other truly violent offenders — typically get five hours of yard time a week. They also can use the law library on a limited basis. Most max security inmates never get visitors, so they are never out of the cell for that activity. Since there are virtually no educational or rehabilitative programs for them, they are never out of their cells for those activities. They are pretty much warehoused in their cells 23 hours a day.
You and I both agree that drug possession cases should not end with time in state prison. We may agree on more issues than you would suspect.
For Tony: We need a rational early release program for non-violent offenders. The people in prison for disturbing the peace, for vehicle code violations, for possessing 72 tablets of Valium and no prescription, for people with a month left to their sentence — I don’t think they belong in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Again, if you are interested in prison issues, please go to the John Howard Association website at http://www.thejha.org/
If you like, you can sign up there to receive the reports that my colleagues and I write. You will get the same research and first-hand observations as the media and lawmakers and correctional professionals receive from us.
And yes, that is a total plug. You might not agree with what you see and read from the John Howard Association.
But I believe you will be shocked at the increase of people in prison since early release was eliminated. I am.
- Jeep Driver - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 10:09 pm:
Folks, how much can we miss the point here?
We could not afford to open Thomson during an economic boom!
Twice Blago tried to close a prison which absolutely had to be done for budget reasons, but he couldnt for political reasons.
The now the same budget crisis + recession is the reason the IDOC had to release prisoners, and the reason it is a trend in other states.
Do you realize that someone has to pay for all the laws that we pass to fill up prisons? I know the legislators don’t realize that, or they don’t care, but let’s just keep that in mind for Rich’s sake.
- queequeg - Monday, Aug 16, 10 @ 11:34 pm:
to WC Woman,
You refer to “violent criminals” and “violent mentally ill” rapists and killers and all the rest as if that has anything to do with the issue Rich has raised. It has nothing to do with that. The people released through MGT-push were convicted of relatively minor crimes and were serving short sentences, shortened by just 36 days! If we can’t clear space in the prisons by letting them out — as well as the 1,000 shoplifters and 5,000 caught with marijuana — we’ll be locking up more and more and more each year, until the bursting prisons explode in rage.
- Amalia - Tuesday, Aug 17, 10 @ 9:47 am:
Robert Manor, actually, the murderer in prison thing is a bit
more complicated. there are people in Illinois prisons sentenced under several sets of criminal laws. the criminal laws that were
in effect when they were sentenced govern how they are treated
regarding time served, when and how they get out, hearings,
etc. that is why you sometimes hear about parole hearings which is not what they are called now and occur with different
rulings.
also, under Thompson the issue was that the IDOC director
at his discretion gave multiples of the day for day good time
that was a standard for most in. there was no law that allowed that and here we are today with related confusion.
- Robert Manor - Tuesday, Aug 17, 10 @ 4:22 pm:
Amalia, you are quite right of course. I was referring to people sentenced in recent years and oversimplified the matter.
One interesting group of about 270 inmates, those sentenced prior to 1978 to indeterminate sentences, can be paroled. These are men in their 50s to their 80s, nearly all serving sentences for murder.
Known as the C# inmates (their prison id’s start with the letter C,) they very rarely actually are paroled, however.
According to Aviva Futorian, a John Howard Association board member and expert on C# inmates, three have been paroled this year. Last year, she said, the Prisoner Review Board released eight or nine.
Some C#’s are model inmates and deserving of parole. People over 50 rarely commit a new offense, people over 60 almost never do.
To learn more about C# inmates, please go to http://www.thejha.org/work