August 27, 2010

Lawmakers heard from DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett, from advocates and family members of victims and from prison reform groups Aug. 25 at the second meeting of the Illinois Joint Investigatory Panel on Early Release.

Birkett cautioned lawmakers to make public safety the top priority when considering any prisoner early-release program. Any inmate who is released early without having clearly demonstrated a clear commitment to rehabilitation is a “high-risk” release, Birkett warned.

The Panel, co-chaired by State Sen. Kirk Dillard (R-Hinsdale) and State Rep. Dennis Reboletti (R-Elmhurst), is examining controversial early-release programs in Illinois, including one unpublicized program established under Gov. Pat Quinn that allowed the early release of nearly 2,000 prisoners, including violent offenders.

The early-release programs were the subject of a highly critical report from retired Judge David Erickson released Aug. 13, two days after the first Joint Panel meeting in Peoria. That report concluded that Quinn’s Department of Corrections failed to adequately protect public safety and released inmates early for “meritorious” behavior “simply by virtue of being delivered into DOC (Department of Corrections) custody.”

Birkett testified before lawmakers and witnesses who gathered at the Thompson Center in downtown Chicago for the Aug. 25 meeting. He said it was clear from the timing of prisoner releases that occurred under the controversial Meritorious Good Time (MGT Push) Program, that the Illinois Department of Corrections released criminals before they could have possibly received information on the prisoners from local prosecutors and law enforcement personnel.

He also recommended that any guidelines or criteria that are adopted as a result of the scandal should be made public, so that state’s attorneys, local police and victims know what the criteria for early release will be. Birkett added that the Corrections Department never consulted him, and he has been unable to identify any other state’s attorneys who were consulted before the early releases began.

Also testifying were individuals representing victims, as they had done at the Panel’s first meeting Aug. 11 in Peoria. They discussed the impact on victims and their families when a violent offender is released early. A representative of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) raised concerns that individuals convicted of drunk and drugged driving are often considered prime candidates for early release even though they are often among those with the greatest risk for repeat offenses.

Prisoner advocates cautioned lawmakers not to completely eliminate meritorious good time and included witnesses who took advantage of rehabilitation programs while in prison to turn their lives around.

The Panel plans to use the feedback from the meetings to develop a legislative package to address the concerns raised by both witness testimony and the Erickson Report.