* The Tribune reports today that the state’s prison system is at a record high inmate population of almost 49,000 inmates. That’s up about 3,000 from just a year ago.

The reason? A gross overreaction by the Quinn administration to political pressure…

The reason for the rising numbers of inmates over the last year has nothing to do with more offenders entering the system — it has to do with fewer getting out as the result of a backlash against a policy change by Gov. Pat Quinn that allowed the early release of about 1,700 inmates over four months.

Under fire by an opponent in a heated primary fight, Quinn in January suspended the controversial program, called Meritorious Good Time Push, after news media reports that some prisoners sentenced to short terms of incarceration were freed after as little as a few days in state prison under the program. At the same time, Quinn also suspended the state’s regular Meritorious Good Time program, which had been in place for three decades and reduced the prison time of nearly two-thirds of the state’s inmates by an average of a few months.

As a result, the prison population began rising immediately and has gone up every month since, reaching a peak of 48,731 last week. [Emphasis added]

MGT Push needed to go. MGT should’ve stayed. Oh, well. Financial troubles are piling up as the population increases…

With the Illinois Department of Corrections about $95 million behind on its bills, many prison vendors haven’t been paid for months. In some cases, fed-up contractors have stopped extending credit to prisons, causing shortages that have led wardens to barter among themselves to stay stocked with essential items like paper goods and soap.

Oof.

* More campaign-related budget trouble…

The U.S. Senate did not authorize a new funding stream for jobs programs like Put Illinois To Work (PITW) as part of a vote on welfare programs [yesterday]. The decision raises the specter that thousands of PITW workers will be laid off around the state unless Democrats in Washington’s Upper Chamber find a way to approve additional dollars in the face of Senate Republicans’ intransigent opposition.

Some 27,000 people in Illinois — most of them young, female, and poor — found $10-per-hour jobs in the private and public sector through PITW; the federal government paid for most of their wages using dollars appropriated under the 2009 stimulus bill, with the states picking up the rest. PITW was one of the most aggressive jobs programs in the country, and when the initial round of federal funding ran out on September 30, Gov. Pat Quinn committed $75 million in state dollars to keep it going through the end of November.

Quinn’s extension was a big issue on the campaign trail and was a reason the Senate Republican Leader used to justify voting against a pension borrowing plan.

* Related…

* NFLPA warns Daley, Quinn of potential lockout: With 100 days remaining until the expiration of the collective bargaining agreement, the NFLPA wrote to Mayor Richard Daley and Gov. Pat Quinn to warn that Chicago stands to lose as much as $160 million in revenue and lost jobs if the 2011 season is canceled.

* Meat On The Bones Of The Neighborhood Recovery Initiative

* Influential Ill. group gets charter school grant: The United Neighborhood Organization has close ties to Chicago Mayor Richard Daley. The group’s leader, Juan Rangel, co-chairs the mayoral campaign of Rahm Emanuel