RichardWanke.Com

https://richardwanke.com/2020/04/15/cook-county-jail-attack-shows-why-jails-arent-safe-during-covid-19/

5 inmates that tested positive for COVID-19 in the Illinois prison system have died   And more continue to die undisclosed by either IDOC or the State.

On April, 2, 2020, prisoner advocate groups sued IDOC & IL for failing to release IL prisoners timely. See details here: https://richardwanke.com/idoc/idoc-inmate-early-release-reforms/federal-civil-rights-lawsuit-filed-4-2-2020-to-force-il-state-prisoner-release/ A hearing was held on 4/10/2020, but injunctive relief was denied at this time. Federal judge declines to step in and order state to release more inmates in the face of COVID-19 threat.  The opinion can be found here.  Money v. Pritzker The groups are considering further action to force IDOC to release IL prisoners more quickly considering the rapid increases of Covid-19 in IL prisons and jail. A similar lawsuit filed against the Cook County Jail resulted in the Cook County Jail being directed to separate jail inmates out better, Federal judge holds hearing on lawsuit filed over Cook County Jail coronavirus response.

Tom Dart has done about as much as is physically possible to do in any jail or prison to try to stop the Covid-19 contagion. Chicago’s biggest jail has released almost a fourth of its population over coronavirus fears Dart has certainly done a lot more at the Cook County Jail than IDOC has done in any prison and a lot more than any other IL County Jail has done. He has even single-celled most of the jail population which is what most people mistakenly believe is all it takes to keep jail or prison inmates safe.

Nonetheless, Dart hasn’t stopped the contagion inside County County jail, and exactly how long the jail can continue to comply with even the judge’s modest requests is questionable.  Cook County Sheriff Says Supply of Masks for Detainees, Staff Could Run Out in a Week

Meantime, Cook County Jail inmates are beginning to agitate from the inside. Inmates in several jail divisions have begun refusing their meal trays off-and-on and passing demands to the jail administration to forward to a local judge so that jail conditions improve. Their requests have helped them out in some respects.

(Note: This page is an adjunct page of information on the IL prison system provided by volunteers of this blog, Richardwanke.com. Richard Wanke is presently serving a life sentence at the Menard Correctional Center in Chester, IL for the death of Rockford, IL attorney Greg Clark in February 2008. Supporters know that Richard Wanke is innocent and hope to obtain his release. His Petition for Leave to Appeal was just denied by the IL Supreme Court and he seeks an attorney to file a post-conviction petition. Richard has a Facebook page under his name maintained on his behalf which also features a page (Talk: Suspect Convictions) with posts and news about the issue of wrongful convictions. We encourage readers to read this blog and FB and to visit Talk: Suspect Convictions and spread awareness of Richard Wanke’s plight.

The most serious problem facing our nation presently is Coronavirus. The USA leads the world in terms of the number of its citizens who are imprisoned. So the Coronavirus has the potential to kill many more US prisoners than the prisoners of other countries. Adequate medical treatment for IL prisoners has always been a problem, but now there is also the increased costs and added difficulties of housing aging inmates.

On March 25, 2020, IDOC began publicly releasing information on the number of inmates it has tested for Coronavirus, the number of test results pending, and the number of staff and inmates testing positive for Coronavirus per facility. On March 30, 2020, the State revealed that those numbers are nonsensically low compared to the true number of staff and inmates who are ill. It has also begun releasing a few inmates with more to be released although not that many at this point. (See below). In addition, on March 26, Governor Pritzker stopped allowing County Jail inmate transfers to IDOC. The order is logical and will put more pressure on County Jails to release inmates because they can’t now ship most of them off to IDOC. Coronavirus IL: Pritzker issues order halting admissions from county jails to Illinois prisons to slow spread of coronavirus

The truth is that NO ONE wants to have the responsibility to care for inmates during this time of crisis.  Authorities may claim otherwise, but they KNOW that Coronavirus will overwhelm any prison or jail system, particularly large systems where it will be more deadly because it will incubate there and spread it faster. That’s why Tom Dart at Cook County Jail is so illogically upset that he cannot now transfer many inmates to IDOC. It is a sign of his desperation that he’s been depending on ridding his facilities of inmates by transferring them to Stateville CC which is even more likely to endanger their health. Sheriff Tom Dart Attacks Gov. Pritzker For Refusing New Inmates In State Prisons

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Pressure is being exerted on the State to temporarily release non-violent offenders and those elderly and most at-risk for the virus. A lot of pressure and everyone needs to help this effort. We urge ALL persons with loved ones in IL State prisons to call Governor Pritzker’s office at: (217) 782 – 6830, (217) 782 – 6831, or 312-814-2121; to demand the immediate temporary release of your loved one. Or, Tweet him at Governor JB Pritzker@GovPritzker. He posts often enough. If your loved one is in a County Jail, then call your County Jail and court officials to demand the same. Every jail or prison which releases inmates puts pressure on others to do the same. See: Letter Generator to Local Officials for letters to send them. What’s new? Even the former Warden of the Cook County Jail and over  30 prosecutors from around the country are now calling for compassion inmate release! (See articles below ) ____________________________________________

Experts identify several options IDOC can take now to immediately release several categories of prison inmates. It can grant up to 180 days of good time off individual sentences for individuals due to be released shortly. It can release or put on home detention individuals with life sentences who have served large blocks of time without incident in IDOC and are not a safety risk, and it can grant temporary “medical furloughs” to those inmates aged 55 and older who are serving life sentences but are at-risk due to age and medical condition. IDOC is being urged to release individuals as quickly as it can. Not only adult inmates but also the almost 200 juveniles in the Dept of Juvenile Justice. And, of course, IDOC can take any other action which Governor Pritzker dictates.

Governor Pritzker holds a daily press conference that can be viewed here: Pritzker Daily Briefing, and which usually airs between  2:30 pm and 3 pm, to update the public about the status of coronavirus in IL and the State response.

State legislators and local community authorities have enriched their career reputations over the past decade by being tough on crime, prosecuting offenses to the max and putting more and more of the State population behind bars in the effort to gain local votes at elections. Now we will all pay the price. Voters and the public have been seduced into believing that crime is more and more rampant and that the only solution for out-of-control criminals is long prison sentences. Stuff prisons full of prisoners and throwing away the key has led now to endangering the lives of anyone in a US prison or jail during this Coronavirus emergency.

Donald Trump’s presidency has undone the national supportive measures and protections once in place to handle public epidemics. There is presently a shortage of Coronavirus testing of the general public much less our jails and prisons. But public clamor over the welfare of those who are in prison has started to effect some action:

 Coming in, Rauner knows he has to tackle prison overcrowding, understaffing, prison conditions and inmate treatment

Rauner focuses on Prison Costs

Rauner promoted in his State of the Union speech what he calls a “Turnaround Agenda”: a prison reform plan aimed at reducing the State prison population by 25 percent over the next 10 years while hiring up to 473 more prison guards. Rauner had no choice but to address the issue. He inherits a State fiscal crisis that is out-of-control, where prison costs are one of the top yearly budget expenses for the State and at a time when the State may even run out of money to meet state prison payrolls come April 2015. The question experts and the public has to ask is really: “Is Rauner’s Turnaround Agenda and it’s timetable really aggressive enough to reduce the prison population and address the myriad of prison problems sufficiently in time to avoid bankrupting the State? This article contains some details, but unless Rauner selects the right person for IDOC Director who will aggressively use existing tools and policy within IDOC now to clear lots of lower-level, non-violent offenders from state prisons so only more violent inmates who need incarceration remain, Rauner’s agenda will be ineffective right now when it is most needed.

Prison Experts Already Say Rauner’s Agenda is not enough

Prison experts say that spending more money on IDOC will not solve the problem because Rauner will only be addressing the top of the iceberg by using the money to cover increased overtime costs for prison staff. They say Rauner’s plan is only a short-term solution at best that has to be followed up with changing the laws and sentencing options so that far fewer people are actually sent to prison.  Experts such as the IL Policy Institute say we need to immediately improve opportunities to rehabilitate people and help them stay out of prison instead of the approximate fifty percent who return there presently.

Looking ahead for IL Prisons

Rauner creates State Prison Commission to reform IDOC

Commission to address prison overcrowding and rehabilitation

“At Stateville they’re using a gym to house one-hundred young men who are awaiting to be assigned to a boot camp facility. And in that gym you have a hundred guys and one toilet.”

Rauner has set up and staffed a commission to recommend criminal justice and sentencing reforms. The goal is an initial report from the Commission by July and a final report by the end of the year.

From Rauner’s perspective: “Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has a chance to reform themselves to realize the error of their ways and to try to live a better life and to try to give back and be a positive member of our community. I believe that very much personally and philosophically and I hope our system comes to reflect that approach as well.”

No prisoners released early 6 months after law signed

Early Release, Good Time, SB 2621, Otherwise known as

new Sentence Credits was Signed by Governor Pat Quinn into

law on June 22, 2012, and, when implemented

allows for Early Release of Illinois IDOC inmates

READ GOVERNOR PAT QUINN’S PRESS RELEASE HERE

No prisoners released early 6 months after law signed

Copy of Pantagraph.com article (here)
December 28, 2012 4:56 pm • By Kurt Erickson | kurt.erickson@lee.net
SPRINGFIELD — More than six months have passed since Gov. Pat Quinn approved legislation designed to ease overcrowding within the state’s bursting-at-the-seams prison system.

But, the new law, approved by lawmakers last spring and signed by Quinn last summer, has not yet resulted in a single inmate being sent home early.

Rather, bureaucrats at the Illinois Department of Corrections and an obscure panel of lawmakers are still working out the rules that could someday put the release of prisoners in motion.

And, although Quinn is in the process of squeezing more prisoners into less space by closing prisons in Tamms and Dwight, officials say they don’t know when the program might begin.

“There is no firm timetable set for the implementation at this time,” said Corrections spokeswoman Stacey Solano.

On June 22, Quinn approved the legislation that would reinstate a prisoner sentence credit program he cancelled during his bid for governor three years ago.

Under past practice, inmates could receive credits toward an early release based on things like good behavior, their record of not committing violence and any classes they took behind bars.

But, in 2009, an Associated Press report revealed that some inmates were being released just weeks or even days after their arrival. Quinn canceled the program.

Since then, the number of inmates residing within the state’s sprawling prison system has mushroomed, with about 49,000 prisoners packed into space built to house about 32,000.

Alan Mills, a Chicago attorney who represents three inmates who have served time at the Vienna Correctional Center and are suing the state because of its overcrowded conditions, said the state will see immediate benefits once the program is running.

In the lawsuit, the inmates say their bunkhouse has been infested by vermin and mold. Broken windows were covered with plywood. Some of the problems have since been fixed.

“If the department would begin implementing the law passed by the legislature … then it could close down Building 19 at Vienna, where prisoners are housed in an old warehouse, stop housing people in basements flooded with sewage at Vandalia, and begin offering programming like basic education, drug treatment, and medical and mental health treatment, that would reduce the current 50 percent recidivism rate,” Mills said in an email.

The delays associated with getting the program up and running are not uncommon in state government.

Once signed into law, the measure went to officials within Corrections to be drafted into a set of workable rules. In October, the proposed rules were submitted to the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, which includes members of the House and Senate.

The panel could vote to approve the rules as early as Jan. 8. But, even if they get a green light at that time, Corrections officials still would have until October 2013 to implement the guidelines.

In the meantime, Quinn is moving forward with the controversial closure of prisons. The “supermax” facility in Tamms is nearly empty of inmates and will close on Jan. 4.

The all-female Dwight Correctional Center also is set to close, but a firm date has not been released.

Together, the two facilities comprise the loss of nearly 1,400 beds in the crowded system.

Despite the slow pace, Solano said agency officials support the new early release program and are hopeful it will serve as an incentive for inmates to be on their best behavior while serving their time.

“This sentence credit law increases accountability in the state’s prison system by setting new guidelines in place that further strengthen the Department’s ability to promote positive offender behavior through the award of sentence credit and allows the Department to revoke credit if the offender is not compliant with rules,” Solano said in an email.

In addition to behavior, Corrections officials will consider and evaluate an inmate’s prior offenses as well as the offender’s potential for rehabilitation.

The new law also expands the number of programs an inmate can participate in and receive sentence credit and grants inmates credit for programs they might have taken while awaiting trial at a county lockup.

Senate Bill 2621 passed the IL legislature, and is before Governor Pat Quinn for his signature!

It’s official! As anticipated, the IL House  passed Senate Bill 2621, by a vote of 68 -50, authorizing the Department of Corrections to issue sentence credits which can lead to the early release for inmates eligible under the terms of the bill. The bill is now before Governor Pat Quinn for possible signature. Quinn has 60 days to either sign it or indicate his opposition to it; or he can automatically allow it to become law. While this is great news for all incarcerated in the overcrowded IL state prisons, the bill still needs Quinn’s approval and then to be implememented. It is unknown right now if Quinn will sign the bill into law; he has not indicated past support for the bill or any inclination that he will work to implement any form of early release. If signed the law will head to Rules and Regulations for work before IDOC changes are begun. As we have said before, even in the most optimistic scenario, readers should not look for any sentence shortening to begin till after the November 2012 elections and possibly even some time in 2013. Still, this is wonderful and long anticipated news! Congradulations to everyone who has worked so hard for so long to try to reinstate some form or early release for IL inmates!

Here is the link to the whole piece of SB 2621`legislation. Readers will have to scrutinize it carefully to determine just who is eligible for what:

Click here for SB 2621 info

Bill Synopis:

Replaces everything after the enacting clause. Amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Changes the references to "good conduct credit" and "early release" on felony sentences to "sentence credit", and the references to "good conduct for meritorious service" to "sentence credit for good conduct". Provides that the Department of Corrections shall provide annual reports to the Governor and General Assembly on award, amount, holding offenses, and revocation of sentence credit for good conduct. Provides that the rules and regulations for sentence credit shall provide that the sentence credit accumulated and retained by an inmate during specific periods of time in which the inmate is engaged full-time in behavior modification programs or life skills courses and satisfactorily completes the assigned program as determined by the standards of the Department of Corrections shall be multiplied by a factor of 1.50 for program participation. Provides that the rules and regulations shall also provide that sentence credit, subject to the same offense limits and multiplier, may be provided to an inmate who was held in pre-trial detention prior to his or her current commitment to the Department of Corrections and successfully completed a full-time 60 day or longer substance abuse program, educational program, behavior modification program, or life skills course provided by a county department of corrections or county jail. Requires the county program credit to be calculated at sentencing and included in the sentencing order. Deletes prohibition on an inmate receiving additional sentence credit for time spent in an educational or training program if the inmate previously served more than one prior sentence for a felony in an adult correctional facility. Provides that the Department may also award 60 days of sentence credit to any committed person who passed the high school level Test of General Educational Development (GED) while he or she was held in pre-trial detention prior to the current commitment to the Department of Corrections. Provides that the Department’s rules and regulations for revoking sentence credit, includes revocation of sentence credit for good conduct. Effective upon becoming law.

Senate Floor Amendment No. 4
Provides that eligible inmates for an award of sentence credit for specific instances of good conduct may be selected to receive the credit at the Director’s or his or her designee’s sole discretion. Provides that consideration may be based on, but not limited to, any available risk-assessment analysis on the inmate, any history of conviction for violent crimes as defined by the Rights of Crime Victims and Witnesses Act, facts and circumstances of the inmate’s holding offense or offenses, and the potential for rehabilitation. Restores language that no inmate shall be eligible for the additional good conduct credit in which the inmate is engaged full-time in substance abuse programs, correctional industry assignments, educational programs, behavior modification programs, life skills courses, or re-entry planning who (i) has previously received increased good conduct credit for that participation and has subsequently been convicted of a felony, or (ii) has previously served more than one prior sentence of imprisonment for a felony in an adult correctional facility.</a>

Quinn to Close Tamms, Dwight, Southern IL and Westside ATC’s

by August 31, 2012!

Quinn announced on June 19, 2012, that he intends to go ahead and close  most of the corrections facilities that he has threatened with closure. Read our current article regarding the closures here.

One mention in the articles listed above is that Quinn may need to go ahead and sign SB 2621 in order to be able to implement these facility closures by August 31, 2012. This would be nice, but Quinn has given no indication that he is in any hurry to sign SB 2621, and, even if he signs it quickly, it is doubtful that it could be implemented in time to have any effectiveness to facilitate the closures.

Yes, Early Release is possible, but will it happen?

After many false hopes and promises, for the first time since December 2009, it looks like the legal mechanism or fix required to allow the IL Department of Corrections (IDOC) to reinstate some form of early release for certain, well-behaved, non-violent prisoners will happen shortly. In the next few days, through a ground-swell of bipartisan effort, the Illinois legislature will likely show it’s compassion for the thousands of Illinois inmates and their families who have suffered prison overcrowding and worsening prison conditions simply because they have been stuck in IDOC at the wrong time, after Governor Pat Quinn’s suspension of all IDOC awarding of Meritorious Good Time credits (MGT)(which previously allowed prisoner sentences to be shortened).

The state legislature’s action is a tribute to the many individuals and organizations which have worked so hard to educate our legislative members regarding the punitive nature and counter-productive effects of Quinn’s actions in eliminating MGT. Just about everybody dealing with some aspect of the state criminal justice system devoted their time and energies to contacting legislators and encouraging them to piece together the individual aspects of Senate Bill 2621. The bill is likely to squeak by and pass both houses before the May 31st end of the legislative session. (Read article below)

Revamped Illinois prison release plan moves to House

The real question is: Will Senate Bill 2621 be signed and implemented by Governor Pat Quinn?

Senate Bill 2621 has a lot of fanfare going for it, but it will not be the panacea for anyone serving less than a year in IDOC now. Readers with a short sentence cannot depend on the Governor either signing the bill or implementing it. Quinn will have up to six months to decide if he wants to sign the bill into law in the first place. While he is likely to face public pressure to sign the bill, Quinn has been known to procrastinate to the max when he really does not want to do something, and it has become apparent to many observers that Governor Quinn does not like the idea of any early release program going into effect under his stewardship.

All along, Governor Quinn has really been arguably two-faced about the reinstatement of MGT or any sort of early release program. As the January 2012, Illinois Issues article below points out, whenever prodded, Quinn has paid lip-service to the urgency of IDOC resolving the issue of the MGT suspension. Yet, time after time, IDOC under Quinn failed to develop any program or take any of the steps needed to reinstate early release. When finally cornered, the Quinn administration countered with the assertion that he could not authorize any early release program permitting eligibility to any violent offender.

Well, Senate Bill 2621 and state legislators, naively or otherwise, are calling Quinn’s bluff, by giving him law to enforce which will meet the provisions which Quinn set forth for early release. It remains to be seen how Quinn will respond. Our bet is that Quinn will delay signage of the bill at least for several months and then implement it slowly, if at all. Our guesstimation is that readers should not look for an implementation of early release before this November and more probably not until sometime in 2013. Our impression is that Quinn believes that he fulfilled his obligation to state prisoners when he abolished the Death Penalty in IL, and that he feels that the rest of state prisoners are responsible for where they happen to be. We are certain that Quinn will continue to come up with plenty of sleight-of-hand excuses to distract us from his deliberate inaction regarding early release and worsening prison conditions.

In the meantime, hard-won legislative victories such as Senate Bill 2621 are really few and far between, so give yourselves a big round of applause!

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Gov. Quinn takes a pass on early prison release plan
by Jamey Dunn

Instead of using what arguably was the biggest scandal during his time in office as a chance to reform a broken system, Gov. Pat Quinn stuck his head in the sand as Illinois’ prison population reached an all-time high.

An escalated version of the Meritorious Good Time early prisoner release program, dubbed MGT “Push,” became the subject of controversy in 2009 and a talking point for Republicans during the 2010 general election. The Associated Press uncovered an administrative tweak to the program that allowed prisoners to apply credit for good behavior to their sentences almost immediately. Previously, the Illinois Department of Corrections had required prisoners to wait 61 days before using any such credits. Under MGT Push, the waiting period was changed to 11 days. So, many of those sentenced to short terms were released before they moved on to the corrections system.
The state released 1,745 prisoners under MGT Push. On average, they served 36 fewer days than their sentences. The AP found that some inmates released under the plan had violent records. The DOC also failed to properly notify local law enforcement officials when prisoners were being released. In some cases, notification was not given at all. According to a report from Quinn’s office: “MGT Push resulted in the earlier release of hundreds of inmates, including more than 100 serving sentences for violent offenses, after as few as 11 days in DOC custody.” The revelation resulted in negative press for Quinn heading into his first bid to be elected governor.

So he did what any politician — and reasonable executive — would do in the same situation. He halted all early release programs and ordered a top to bottom review. Quinn brought in Judge David Erickson to work on a panel that took a look at the Meritorious Good Time program. Erickson concluded that the Quinn administration had taken a flawed program and made it worse. The report said that the focus of the program should be a rewards system meant to encourage good behavior and a desire for

rehabilitation, not just a way to cut down on numbers. “The department must fundamentally change its attitude and approach toward MGT credit awards. Despite Illinois’ dire economic state and the very real need to maximize control of facilities, these programs should not simply be population pressure release valves; they must be, first and foremost, a means to incent and reward good conduct that shows a genuine rehabilitative intent. This will not only benefit the individual inmate but also the community he or she will reenter.”

At the time of the report, Quinn vowed to fix the program. “These problems at the Department of Corrections are systemic, they’re longstanding, there’s lots of flaws, they need to be corrected. And I’m going to do that,” Quinn said. But two years later, the DOC has no plans to start a new-and-improved Meritorious Good Time program in the foreseeable future. As a result, advocates say that overcrowding, especially at lower security prisons, is getting worse. According to a spokesperson for the DOC, the prison population has not substantially changed since it reached its peak of 48,743 in May 2011. An October quarterly report from the department projects that the population will reach 49,615 by September 2012.

Malcolm Young, who serves on an advisory board for DOC, says that after the MGT Push scandal, word from the Quinn administration was that there were plans to reform and relaunch the Meritorious Good Time Program, but he says “nothing materialized.”

Young, who is also director of the Program for Prison Reentry Strategies with the Bluhm Legal Clinic at Northwestern University School of Law, says: “The fact that it hasn’t been done yet, it’s actually kind of mind boggling.”

“When a window for reform opens, it can close very quickly,” says John Maki, executive director of the John Howard Association, a Chicago-based prison watchdog group.
Maki says that in the wake of the MGT Push scandal, the idea of reinstating an early release program is a nonstarter with the Quinn administration. “It is dead,” he says. “It’s politically poisonous.” Maki and other advocates argue that the program has been in use in Illinois since the 1970s as a way to control prison populations as well as encourage good behavior from prisoners. “MGT was around for 30-plus years. It was something that administrations from both parties used. It was noncontroversial. … This is a standard practice in corrections.”

He says that overcrowding in Illinois prisons is by no means caused by the lack of an early release program for the last two years. He says the problem is a result of “decades of bad laws and policies” that will take a “multi-pronged solution” to tackle. However, he says that reinstating the Meritorious Good Time program could help to address serious problems at some of the state’s minimum- and medium-security lockups. “The minimum [security prisons] don’t tend to get a lot of press and don’t get a lot of attention.” But Maki says his group, which tours correctional facilities and issues reports on them, has found “inhumane” conditions at some of the lower security facilities. He says these offenders, who are often not locked up for violent crimes, would be the ideal candidates for early release based on good behavior.

He points to the association’s review of the Vandalia Correctional Center in 2011. The minimum-security prison was designed to hold 1,100 but instead holds 1,748. The state considers the prison to be at operational capacity. However, when association monitors visited the facility, inmates were housed in standing water in rain-flooded basements. The association’s report links the conditions directly to the state’s lack of a Meritorious Good Time program. “[John Howard Association monitors] found the conditions in these lower-level dormitory basements to be unsafe, unsanitary and unacceptable. The blame lies not with Vandalia’s administration, however, but with the Illinois governor and legislature, who created this deplorable situation. The suspension of Meritorious Good Time credit (MGT) in December 2010 by the Illinois governor has greatly exacerbated prison overcrowding — particularly in minimum- security facilities like Vandalia, whose low-level, non-violent offender populations are most affected by MGT’s suspension. Despite this crisis in overcrowding, the governor and legislature have refused to address the issue or take prudent action to replace MGT,” the report said.
“As a direct result of MGT’s suspension, Vandalia was forced to absorb more than 300 additional inmates into a facility already bursting at its seams with a population that far exceeds its design capacity. Consequently, the only place to house the additional inmates is in dormitory basements, which [monitors] found to be neither safe nor suitable as living quarters.”

Maki said that during a recent visit to the Vienna Correctional Center, another minimum-security prison, monitors found a similar situation, with inmates being housed in a lower level that had broken windows and was infested with cockroaches, birds and mice. According to the DOC, Vienna, which was designed to hold 925, has a population of 1,902. The state says that the prison has a so-called operational capacity of 1,887. As of press time, the John Howard Association had yet to release its report on the Vienna facility.

The state’s classification of operational capacity started popping up in reports last year. It is defined in DOC reports as “the maximum number of inmates a facility can hold.” The “design” or “rated” capacity of a facility is the capacity of the institution when it was built. The design capacity of the state corrections system is 33,703, but the operational capacity is 51,229. So according to the DOC, there’s room left.

“We’re not there yet,” says Sharyn Elman, a spokeswoman for DOC. “We’re still maintaining our numbers under that threshold.” Elman said Quinn’s administration knows there is work to be done. She says DOC is focusing on other tools, such as Adult Redeploy Illinois. That program is based on the successful juvenile model, which seeks to rehabilitate offenders through community programs, such as addiction counseling, instead of prison time.

However, Maki, Young and Erickson agree that good time credits can be used as a tool to reward positive behavior in prisoners and encourage them to work toward rehabilitation.

“Illinois is pretty much at a crisis in terms of overcrowding. I think that it’s not being acknowledged by the administration,” Young says. While the state seems to have adopted a policy of denial when it comes to the problems in its corrections system, Illinoisans are also culpable. We cannot have unrealistic expectations of our state. We must demand that our government act in a competent, humane and open way. What we cannot demand is that it protects us from every evil that could potentially befall us. But few of us want to live in a society that locks up all criminals and throws away the key. And even if we do, we simply cannot afford it unless we want to fund nothing but prison costs.

Unfortunately, this forces us to confront inherent risks of our society. Some criminals will reform, and some will reoffend. Focused screening and requirements for early release, which exclude violent offenders from eligibility, and programs that can help inmates make the difficult transition back into society can improve the odds. But we have to accept that some people who get out will offend again and sometimes even violently.

Maki says that public backlash over scandals in the criminal justice system stem from the basic human desire of all individuals “wanting to protect themselves, their families and their loved ones.” However, he says that instead of being reactionary, we must look to what works. “Incarcerating this many people does not keep you safe,’’ because prisoners at present lack access to rehabilitation programs.

While half-baked plans such as MGT Push, which was carried out sloppily and without public notifications, spur righteous outrage, such high profile scandals should not bar the way for effective policies geared toward real goals: encouraging rehabilitation, improving prison conditions and spending less money on incarceration. It seems the Meritorious Good Time program needs some work, as well as some changes to the law, to become focused on such goals. But having survived the scandal of MGT Push, Quinn could be just the guy to get the ball rolling.

Illinois Issues, January 2012

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Quinn may have a few more unpleasant surprises up his sleeve. Last year he pushed hard for a state tax increase and got it, but it did not solve the state’s fiscal problems. Illinois is more in the hole than ever, and there are no more magic rabbits for Quinn. Now, his only solutions are to cut state expenses and increase the state’s efficiency, and he is starting to move in ways which may be ruthless. Quinn had seven state facilities on the chopping block for closure last year. Their closures were averted at the time, but now a whole new list of closures are proposed and some will probably carry through no matter what happens with the state budget.

Supposedly, there has been a statewide push for several years for circuit courts and counties to develop local programs to recognize and correct the problem of persons being sent to prison who either do not need to be there in the first place or who do not benefit by being in prison. While it is known that some individuals are dangerous to society or deserving of severe punishment; IL prisons today are largely filled with more minor offenders who are not rehabilitated but simply warehoused by state prison.  Adult Redeploy was designed to create funding methods for communities to develop alternative court supervision and rehabilitative programs to reserve state prison for serious and dangerous offenders.

Some communities deserve credit for getting their jail populations under control, because they have been proactive in realizing that it is better to rehabilitate rather than punish the citizens who ultimately return to their communities. Other communities have continued to deal harshly with offenders and are just beginning to consider their options as they are finding that they cannot afford the costs of jailing everyone. Unfortunately, much better progress could have been made with Adult Redeploy up to this point in time. Now, if the state also throws responsibility for prison inmates upon these localities, it may swamp them. Not only that, but the state and these localities will face the public unwillingness to host inmates since these localities have been trained for years to criminalize offenders.

The chickens are coming home to roost for IL. On the one hand the state is running out of money as the prison population continues to climb; on the other hand, electoral rhetoric and “Get tough on Crime” politics have created a public atmosphere which is unreceptive to the degree of mindset change required to  deal with prison overcrowding and avoid the embarrassing lawsuits and costly effects it has has in other states.

We will continue to update information as events unfold, but at this point, readers should not expect implementation of any early release program until after the November 2012 elections and possibly 2013.

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AP Exclusive: Lawmakers seek prison crowding fix

FILE – In this April 2004 file photo, eighty-six inmates share a dormitory at the minimum-security Vandalia Prison in Vandalia, Ill. With Illinois’ prison population continuing to rise and Gov. Pat Quinn refusing to reinstate a program that gave well-behaved prisoners early release, lawmakers from both parties are pushing plans this spring to find alternatives to incarceration or other ideas to reduce the state’s packed lockups. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman,File) — AP

By JOHN O’CONNOR, AP Political Writer

3:23 p.m., Jan. 20, 2012

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Lawmakers from both parties are seeking ways to reduce Illinois’ growing prison population, and one has introduced legislation to restart a contentious program that let well-behaved prisoners out early.

Gov. Pat Quinn shut down the 30-year-old early release program after The Associated Press reported in 2009 that prison officials had implemented an unpublicized, accelerated version that was springing criminals in as little as eight days.

He has shown no interest in reviving it, but least one legislator is looking at it again as the prison population has grown by 3,000 inmates in two years. Meanwhile, a group of lawmakers is meeting with Quinn to find solutions more palatable to the governor and the public.

Conditions inside state prisons are “wretched,” according to John Maki, executive director of the prison watchdog group John Howard Association. Monitoring visits to Illinois lockups in the past year have revealed inmates housed in gymnasiums, standing water in living quarters and rodent problems.

Illinois is not alone in trying to address prison crowding. An August report by the American Civil Liberties Union identified six states that have adopted laws in the past five years to decrease prison populations, with four more working on the issues. One of the more popular tacks among reform states is to expand good-conduct credit, including in Kentucky and Ohio just last year.

Prison advocates nationwide generally support early release as one solution to overcrowding, and Rep. Art Turner, D-Chicago, has introduced legislation that would restore Illinois’ accelerated early-release program. But the governor previously has said he won’t go along with that, even with new controls imposed by lawmakers, after problems with the program nearly cost him reelection in 2010.

Instead, Quinn’s staff has been working with a group of legislators who plan to pick up the pace when the General Assembly resumes its work later this month. Some told the AP they hope to have a solution by the end of the spring session.

The group includes Rep. Dennis Reboletti, a law-and-order legislator who speaks of being “smart on crime” and advocates alternative sentencing, such as treatment for first- or second-time substance abusers.

“Put them into community-based programs with ankle bracelets, into treatment centers or halfway houses where they can get job counseling or programming to put them back into a productive life,” the Elmhurst Republican said.

As of November, there were 48,620 people incarcerated in Illinois, 144 percent more than the 33,700 for which space was designed, according to the Corrections Department. But department officials now play down those numbers, saying “operational capacity” is about 51,200. That’s after the agency began counting how many people a facility can actually hold, along with what it was designed to house.

For decades in Illinois, the director of the Corrections Department had the discretion to cut sentences with “meritorious good time,” or MGT, by up to six months for an inmate who displayed good behavior behind bars.

But Quinn abandoned the practice in December 2009 after the AP reported that the agency secretly dropped an informal requirement that all incoming inmates serve 60 days behind bars before getting good-time credit in a plan dubbed “MGT Push.” More than 1,700 inmates were released under that program, and some went on to commit more crimes.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Derrick King, for example, was sentenced to three years in prison for a brutal attack on a woman in 2008. He served about a year in county jail and 14 days in state prison before he was released in October 2009 under MGT Push and then arrested the next day on suspicion of assault and sent back to prison.

Lawmakers later put the 60-day minimum sentence requirement into law. An independent review of the accelerated early-release program determined the Quinn administration had failed to consider dangers to public safety in trying to save money and recommended it be reinstated with reforms.

Quinn has not said why his administration will not reinstate the program, although he said in October 2010 he was focusing on “alternative sentencing approaches.” Spokeswoman Brooke Anderson confirmed he’s working with the legislative group to “manage population numbers while continuing to incarcerate – for safety, rehabilitation, and punishment.”

Along with Reboletti, the panel meeting with Quinn’s staff about a solution includes Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale and Sen. Michael Noland, D-Elgin. Each says he’s open to options that keep the public safe but reduce the inmate population to make prisons safer and spare the state budget. The House Democrats’ representative is parliamentarian David Ellis, the governor’s office said.

Dillard, a candidate for governor in 2010 and potentially again in 2014, said early release is not popular, given the shock of MGT Push.

“My constituents want people locked up,” he said. “They’re tired of people who still should be locked up in the penitentiary (out) committing crimes.”

Nonetheless, he’s open to ideas such as Reboletti’s.

Turner’s bill would reverse the new 60-day minimum prison sentence requirement and give the Corrections director discretion to release anyone who has served 60 days behind any bars, including in county jails. Turner did not return repeated calls and an email seeking comment.

Regardless of the method, something has to happen soon, Maki said.

At Vandalia prison in June, John Howard visitors found dirty, stagnant water pooling on the floor of inmates’ living areas. One dormitory, Building 19, at Vienna prison in September had rodent droppings and inmates complained of mice and cockroaches. Windows on two floors were broken and birds had built nests inside.

“When you put nonviolent offenders in deplorable conditions you’re not going to make this person better,” said Maki, whose report blames Quinn and lawmakers who have cut corrections budgets. “Prisons are not typically uplifting places, but Building 19 was one of the most depressing things I’ve ever seen.”

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This entry was posted on January 21, 2012 at 6:28 am and is filed under Early Release, FOIA-Freedom of Information Act, IDOC, IL in Fiscal Ruins, Local Issues, Meritorious Good Time, Uncategorized. Tagged: Governor Quinn and good time, idoc early release, MGT, return of good time. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Edit this entry.

The delay in issuing Judge Erickson’s report and assessment of the IDOC Early Release Program and awarding of MGT Credit is now explained. The report was issued today during a major press conference conducted by IDOC ranking officials and Governor Quinn’s Administration.

The report and accompanying information may be viewed at the IDOC website, at, http://www.illinois.gov/PressReleases/ShowPressRelease.cfm?SubjectID=3&RecNum=8753

Most of the report findings are not new because bits and parts of them have been previously leaked to the press by Erickson and other IDOC officials.

At the core of the new plan for implementing awarding of all Meritorious Good Time Credits to IDOC inmates are three points: 1. requiring inmates to earn credits and spend at least 60 days in state custody before receiving any awards for meritorious conduct, 2. developing formal, consistent procedures and policies for programs (with public input) and implementing these department- wide under the responsibility of the IDOC’s Chief Public Safety Officer, and 3. instituting a fully electronic advance notification process with appropriate procedural safeguards, to give local authorities time to respond to or prepare for a prisoner’s release and to plan for public safety.

What is apparent is that Quinn needed the time from January to now to get IDOC agency staff on-board and put the IDOC internal house in order as well as restructure the essentials of the IDOC Early Release program along the lines of the recommendations contained in the report before formally releasing the report and it’s specifics. Quinn timed the report release to issue now, before the November elections to demonstrate to the public that Quinn has the answer to his critics and  a master plan to capably handle IDOC and all Early Release issues. Quinn wants no more political embarrassment from IDOC or early release and is effectively deflecting all opportunity for attack on the issue of crime by making IDOC a non-issue for this November’s election. Unfortunately, this ploy did not quite work out and Quinn released Mike Randle from his position as IDOC director in September 2010, in response to further political attacks from Quinn’s opponents.

Everybody has to note, that much of the plan and many of the objectives outlined by IDOC today still exist more on paper than in fact. What this means to the public is delay; a lot of additional delay before the agency actually once again starts to award MGT to anyone not previously approved to receive it. As IDOC stated today, several of the recommended reforms announced will require legislative action and if they are also seeking public input for procedures; then, as we all know, it will take quite a while. Obviously, Early Release will not be in place by November 2010, and probably not before Spring 2011. In the meantime current MGT and Early Release programs remain suspended; so sorry, but no one else is getting approved for them until then.

We have a plan; it is a large plan, and we can only wait to see how well it is implemented.