59 Comments - Beans and Franks - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 4:30 pm: Prison Privatization? - Demoralized - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 4:31 pm: ==Prison Privatization?== Can’t. It’s illegal. - Groundhog Day - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 4:33 pm: ===It’s illegal== Hasn’t stoped him so far. - Norseman - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 4:37 pm: I think you’re on it Groundhog. This time Sidley Austin will handle the pro bono work. (s/) - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 4:38 pm: One year in prison for anyone who disagrees with the Governor. - D.P.Gumby - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 4:39 pm: Incarcerating Public Union Leaders… - A guy - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 4:44 pm: Give him some credit for picking a place to do this in the neighborhood he lives in. /s - HL - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 4:47 pm: He is going to declare President Obama a non-resident of Illinois - truthteller - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 4:48 pm: Cut down on prison population by making all corporate crime misdemeanors punishable by tax deductible fines. - Carhart Representative - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:14 pm: I think any Illinois governor doing any kind of prison reform has a conflict of interest - The Dude Abides - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:17 pm: LOL, you guys are on a roll. I would hope that he can address the overcrowding issue by releasing some non violent offenders. - Wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:20 pm: Pardon for Squeezy. - siriusly - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:26 pm: Not sure what he’s going for but he needs to look at the prisons. They are no rehabilitating or helping one bit. They are dangerous places for the guards and not very good deterrents or places of rehabilitation for the inmates. If he wants to reform the prison system - I applaud him. I hope what he announces is more than just labor-oriented. - Enviro - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:26 pm: We do need some criminal justice reforms: “releasing some non violent offenders.” Also eliminating mandatory sentences. - Amalia - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:34 pm: how are you defining non violent offenders? do you want serial burglary offenders to be released in public? someone please put on line a census of every criminal incarcerated per prison where held. and put up the offense that got them in, and their background offenses. this can be without personal identifiers, although I believe all of that information is public knowledge, what with access to court proceedings and all. then we would know who is actually in for what at any time. - ChiTown Seven - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:35 pm: First order of business: eliminate the provision in School Code that makes it a criminal offense to falsely claim residency (e.g., Chicago vs. Wilmette) to enroll a child in a public school; also eliminate provisions that make it illegal to claim two homeowner’s tax exemptions. - Pot calling kettle - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:43 pm: Rauner is going to have Rep. Schock’s decorator redo the prisons and give them a Downton Abbey-style make over. - The Dude Abides - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:46 pm: @amalia I don’t think very many people want serial burglars released. One example I’m thinking for early release is the guy who was selling marijuana. No I do not smoke pot or anything else but I don’t think it is cost efficient to imprison these guys for any length of time. - DuPage - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:47 pm: Until we see the EO, no one knows if it is good or bad. Judging from what he has done so far, I expect it to be something bad. - Just Me - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:58 pm: I’m truly loving how the vast majority of comments on this blog are complaints about Rauner shaking up Springfield. - crazybleedingheart - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:58 pm: = do you want serial burglary offenders to be released in public? = Amalia, you do realize that in the end, there really are only 2 ways to conclude a sentence in Illinois? 1. die in prison 2. get released Pretty sure we’re not giving life sentences to burglars. Great straw obstacle to progress, though. - crazybleedingheart - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 5:59 pm: So - to be clear - most people in this state seem to want serial burglary offenders to be released in public. Hope that answers your question. - state worker - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:15 pm: Amalia, exactly. Enviro, Stick with the enviro. - Long time LEO - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:18 pm: I’ve seen comments numerous times complaining about low level dealers being sentenced to incarceration. Having been in law enforcement a long time, much of it in narcotics, I can’t recall a “low level dealer” being incarcerated on a first, second, some times a third offense. Even cannabis traffickers (hundreds of pounds) and meth cooks usually get probation on a first offense, unless there is significant criminal history. I’ve worked mostly in urban areas, so maybe a first time dealer gets IDOC time in rural areas., but I doubt it. - Mama - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:23 pm: Has anyone noticed that the gov keeps by-passing the legislature? Does this mean he plans to cut the legislators job too? No comment from the Speaker or AG Madigan about all of Rauner’s EOs. It is to quiet on the other side of the aisle. - Give Me A Break - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:31 pm: Pretty sure it abolishes the General Assembly,DHS, HFS, DCFS and creates the Department of Doing Things The Gov Finds Worthy. - Millennium - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:33 pm: Amalia The IDOC website has all of that information available if you would like to look up any individuals. It does not have prior offenses, but it is all very attainable. - Enviro - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:33 pm: We must look at the high incarceration rate in this country, which is by far the higherst in the world. Then we need to consider the reasons for this high rate of incarceration such as: Longer sentences? More criminal laws? Mandatory sentences? Harsh incarceration rates for non-violent crimes? Privatized Prisons for Profit? “The United States leads the world in incarceration…” “While the United States has only 5 percent of the world’s population, it has nearly 25 percent of its prisoners — about 2.2 million people. Over the past four decades, the nation’s get-tough-on-crime policies have packed prisons and jails to the bursting point, largely with poor, uneducated people of color, about half of whom suffer from mental health problems. This startling reality has cost U.S. society in many ways, concludes a sweeping National Research Council report produced by an interdisciplinary committee of researchers.” “We reached a broad consensus on what negative impacts these policies have had on individuals, on families, on communities and on the nation,” says Craig Haney, PhD, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Santa Cruz, a report co-author and member of a committee that in July briefed the White House on the report’s findings.” One out of every 100 American adults is incarcerated, a per capita rate five to 10 times higher than that in Western Europe or other democracies, the report found.” - Mama - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:35 pm: Only 3 reforms are needed: 1. hire more guards, and 2. Offer real drug rehab to drug addicts to actually help them to stop abusing drugs and stay clean. 3. Delete the laws that keep former convicted drug addicts from working and voting. - 1776 - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:38 pm: Pardoning Blago? - Mama - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:38 pm: Oops that should have said 4 reforms - professional council @ medical help for the mentally ill so they can live productive lives. - A Non-Mouse - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:39 pm: the Illinois State Police are being reorganized into the Illinois Police State. - Mama - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:48 pm: Sorry… my post above should say “and” not @. - Mama - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:51 pm: I am willing to bet this EO takes away the unions right to file a lawsuit. - Amalia - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 6:55 pm: @Millenium, thanks. is it by prison? the information should be readily accessible as in a visible list by prisoner name, not look up each individual. when all these studies come out giving percentages and sad stories of the incarcerated I challenge the study writers to give an actual census and show us the information to decide if those kinds of folks belong out of prison. I do think serial burglars should be incarcerated….see story up late on Sun Times, that I found after my post. scary dude gets out and goes at it right away. scary to have one’s home invaded. and here’s hoping that weed gets decriminalized, but dealers, right now they belong in the joint as it is a destructive criminal enterprise right now. those with a joint do not, as Long Time LEO states. and Enviro, so what if we lead the world in incarceration?!? talk about a straw argument. the question is, do those incarcerated belong inside for what they have done. it’s that simple. the issue is the safety of the public. - Guzzlepot - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 7:06 pm: Mama, Those are sensible reforms, but they require one thing this State does not have, money. - A Non-Mouse - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 7:07 pm: Amalia: please explain how people buying or selling dried flowers endangers the safety of the public enough to justify locking them in cages. - Politix - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 7:11 pm: Based on his policy papers, I predict he orders a 25% decrease in prison population. Most governors would work with policy experts and the legislators to see this through, but Rauner prefers simply ordering people around. - Politix - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 7:13 pm: Serial criminals don’t often qualify for diversion programs. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 7:15 pm: He’s being fiscally responsible. Taking a plea now and reporting to prison to spare the state the cost of trial. That’s what leaders do. - Honest Abe - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 7:45 pm: I think he has already passed Obama on EO’s and he’s only been Governor for what a month. This guy is a real winner!!! - Anon - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 7:52 pm: Look for Gov to increase educational credits and work release pop. I don’t think private-sector work release programs is not subject to the Prison Moratorium law. ? Edgar tried to increase this under his Pre-Start Parolee program until the House Dems conducted field hearings. This move may appeal to some liberals (give’em a second chance) and the conservations (who don’t like paying for their free meals and health care while in prison)alike. - Missing Quinn - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 7:53 pm: Governor Rauner will try to privatize for profit and state services, including prisons. The Robber Barons see this as a cash cow waiting to be slaughtered. Eliminate public education and go to vouchers and for profit charter schools… Eliminate the unions to eliminate any voice for labor…. And that’s just the start… That’s the end game… Just my humble opinion… - Wordslinger - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 8:01 pm: For the record, presidents’ use of executive orders have been on the decline since Truman. The peak use was from Roosevelt to Roosevelt, with they and Taft, Wilson, Harding, Cooldige and Hoover often issuing more than 200 executive orders a year. Use has declined to the point that W and Obama have used it about 35 times a year. Google American Presidency Project executive orders. - lost in the weeds - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 8:35 pm: The “Criminal Justice is what I say it is” EO Sets up criminal empowerment zones. Allows criminals to excercise their freedom of speech now taken away by sentencing. - Cheswick - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 8:53 pm: The announcement only says justice reform, not criminal justice reform. Could be civil justice. Could be both. I’m guessing it has something to do with court reporters, especially since their paychecks are due to be unfunded soon. - Quiet Sage - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 9:32 pm: My guess is release of some nonviolent offenders combined with steps toward privatization. - 13thone - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 9:43 pm: Hey, has anyone seen Evelyn lately? Should we start checking the milk bottles? Perhaps his highness has her in the dungeon? The possibilities are endless. - Amalia - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 11:06 pm: @ A Non Mouse, are there lots of those cases? - 13thone - Tuesday, Feb 10, 15 @ 11:27 pm: “He’s being fiscally responsible. Taking a plea now and reporting to prison to spare the state the cost of trial. That’s what leaders do.” I agree with you. Rauner should just take a plea and report to prison immediately and save all of us whole bunch of money. - shanks - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 12:05 am: The three strike law… - mythoughtis - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 7:00 am: I hope its a bid to decriminalize pot (as much as you can do in an EO) - both possession and sales. Let’s save the prisons for violent offenses, and quit trying to protect people from themselves. And, no, I don’t use the stuff. - low level - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 7:10 am: Where are all the tea partying folks who complain about the President’s use of EO’s???? Where? I expect rallies in Joliet and in Daley plaza soon, complete with revolutionary war outfits, decrying Rauner as a tyrant opposed to the Comstitition and freedom. (Not holding my breath). - Joe M - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 8:05 am: The vast majority of our long term prisoners do not pay taxes. We have to put a stop to that. - CharlieKratos - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 8:28 am: To figure out what Rauner is going to do, you just have to understand his motivation. Just ask yourself, “What Would the Koch’s Have Him Do?”. - 13thone - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 8:35 am: - Joe M - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 8:05 am: “The vast majority of our long term prisoners do not pay taxes. We have to put a stop to that” You’re right Joe. I say we lock’em up for not paying taxes and we turn them over to the Fed’s so they can be shipped to a minimum security Federal facility, where they can have a tea party with other tea partiers. Geez Joe you’re idea is brilliant. - Amalia - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 9:17 am: am I seeing these optics correctly? the panel of people behind Rauner? - crazybleedingheart - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 9:26 am: Optics? Are you referring to the fact that he picked 11 people to stand behind him while he talked about criminal justice and none of them are black? - Amalia - Wednesday, Feb 11, 15 @ 10:18 am: @crazybleedingheart, yes. it appears that none of the people surrounding the governor are people of color. the fact that he signed an executive order creating a commission cause he’s so concerned about the criminal justice system and had a group of people so unrepresentative of this state is shocking. Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.