 David Erickson, who served as a criminal and appellate judge for
more than a decade, began investigating the Meritorious Good Time
Push program used to accelerate the release of prisoners more than
several months ago. The picture was not a pretty one."The MGT
program was a dismal failure, totally dysfunctional," he said. "It
became a means by which the Department of Corrections controlled the
population ... to limit overcrowding (and cut costs)."
The dysfunction, according to Erickson, started decades ago. The
MGT program has been around for more than 30 years and allows
inmates convicted of minor offenses to earn credits for good
behavior. The MGT Push program, set in place by the Quinn
administration, accelerated this process, granting reduced time to
offenders for walking through the door in handcuffs. Merit, however,
has had little to do with who received reduced sentences for some
time, according to Erickson.
Former law enforcement officials, like Republican state Rep. Jim
Durkin, R-Countryside, agree.
"When I was a Cook County prosecutor, we used to laugh when we heard
about MGT. We called it 'Getting Caught Time' (off)," Durkin said.
The panel headed by Erickson is trying to close the gaps that led
to the release of prisoners like Edjuan Payne.
Payne, a previously convicted murderer and drug trafficker,
served only six months of a two-year sentence for criminal damage to
property. Police in Peoria arrested him in connection with the murder
of Orvette Davis. Davis was found strangled to death in an alley in
May, her infant granddaughter crying at her side.
"The Department of Corrections must change its attitude from
population control (and) cost-savings to rehabilitating offenders,
protecting the public and deterring crime," Erickson said.
One of the first steps needed is a narrowing of the program. The
former judge said the department should work with the General
Assembly to prevent violent offenders from falling into the pool. He
urged lawmakers to prevent prisoners convicted of domestic abuse and
hate crimes from early release through the MGT program, and he said no one should be eligible
for the credits until they have served 60 days of their sentence.
The panel also recommended that prisoners should be evaluated on
an individual basis rather than by the level of their convictions.
Such a move would have prevented Payne, with his violent history,
from receiving a reduced sentence, despite his apparently minor
conviction.
Increased communication, through a $30 million update of
the department's computer systems, would also prevent such offenders
from slipping through the cracks.
Erickson said the department's handling of MGT should be seen
through a prism of the past execution of the program, along with its
resources. That, he said, is the "benign neglect."
But Durkin, who listened to the press conference, said the report
smelled of whitewashing on the administration's part.
"I asked Director Randle last November in a conference call if
they were going to look into the criminal histories of these guys,
rather than just their current offense, and I was assured they
would," he said.
MGT's existing problems became exacerbated when Quinn put
pressure on Department of Corrections head Jim Randle to cut costs
in the state's prison system, which houses 46,000 inmates in 28
facilities. The department turned to its age-old cost-cutting tool
and enhanced existing early release programs through MGT Push, which
immediately reduced the sentences of prisoners convicted of minor
offenses.
[to top of second column]
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Randle emphasized that Quinn approved the program, but only if
violent offenders would be kept out.
"(Department) staff weren't doing this because we wanted to do it,
but because we had to do it," he said. "It happened and I take
responsibility for it."
"What Push did was take a broken system and make it worse," Erickson
said.
Inmates convicted of drunk driving, domestic abuse and even
weapons charges were released, having served a few days.
The Associated Press brought the Push program to light in
December, and the program became a major embarrassment for the Quinn
administration. The governor suspended the program within weeks of
the report. A blame game soon followed in which Quinn and Randle
stumbled publicly about their knowledge of the program when the
story first broke.
After weeks under the microscope, Randle ultimately took
responsibility, but he managed to keep his job with Quinn's ardent
support, despite public anger.
Randle said he will continue at his post until his boss says
otherwise.
Durkin said the panel's findings are "too little, too late" for
victims like Davis. But what is more worrying to the former
prosecutor is the lack of accountability within the administration.
Durkin and other state lawmakers are convening several hearings
in the coming weeks to find out who was responsible for drafting the
program.
"These are things that should have been addressed before MGT Push
was put into place," he said. "Even if the director takes
responsibility, we still don't know who was behind the program."
The Quinn administration is looking to make a different kind of
push in the General Assembly, according to Jerome Stermer, Quinn's
chief of staff.
"We are asking legislators to redesign which crimes should be
excluded," he said. "Secondly, we have asked this General
Assembly ... for the $30 million for this computer system."
The report, however, calls for more than just $30 million.
Erickson wants to increase spending on rehabilitation programs, like
educational opportunities and counseling programs for drug and
alcohol addiction and anger management, to "restore inmates to useful
citizenship." All of these programs cost money, but the former judge
said such measures can go a long way.
"The investment ... on counselors on this end will reduce
recidivism and will save you money in the end," he said.
The Risks, Assets and Needs Assessment Task Force, which Quinn
signed into law in 2009, has been working to address these issues.
One proposal, which Randle has embraced, is the idea of specializing
prisons based on rehabilitation programs as a cost-cutting measure.
"Rather than trying to do these programs at each prison, we can
assign them to different institutions," the director said.
The department has already received a $2 million grant to apply
some of these rehabilitation efforts in 20 Illinois counties.
Stermer said the report would be given to the lawmakers when they
are back in session.
[Illinois
Statehouse News; By BILL McMORRIS]
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