Ill. governor suspends program that secretly released inmates after only 3 weeks in prison

Ill. suspends program that released inmates early

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has suspended a prison program that allowed repeat drunk drivers, drug users and even people convicted of battery and weapons violations to serve less than three weeks’ total time behind bars.

Records obtained and analyzed by The Associated Press show that since September more than 850 inmates were released weeks earlier than they ordinarily would be. The Corrections Department was saving money by abandoning a policy that requires inmates to serve at least 61 days and awarding them discretionary good-conduct credit immediately upon entering prison.

That means some prisoners have enough good-conduct days to qualify for release almost immediately — before they’ve had a chance to demonstrate any conduct at all. The inmates are kept at the department’s prison processing centers and released after as few as 11 days.

Jorge Bogas spent just 18 days behind bars for aggravated driving under the influence after he hit two cars, hospitalizing one motorist for weeks, while driving the wrong direction on Interstate 57. Bogas sat five days in Cook County Jail, was transferred to the processing center at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet and released 13 days later.

Antoine Garrett, previously convicted of armed robbery and illegal firearms possession by a felon, got a one-year sentence after Chicago police saw him drop a bag of cocaine on the street as they approached, but spent just 21 days locked up.

“That’s outrageous,” said DuPage County State’s Attorney Joseph Birkett, whose office has convicted 22 people who have been released early since September. “Good-conduct credits are intended to be awarded to those people who demonstrate through their behavior that they merit those credits.”

On Sunday, Quinn ordered an exam by his chief of staff and Department of Corrections Director Michael Randle.

“The public’s safety always comes first,” Quinn said in a statement. “A top-to-bottom review of this program will make sure that we never waver from this all-important goal.”

Quinn spokesman Bob Reed declined to discuss what Randle and chief of staff Jerome Stermer will review, other than “issues raised in The Associated Press story.”

The practice is called “MGT Push,” for “meritorious good time,” according to a memo obtained by the AP.

It’s separate from a plan Quinn announced in September to release 1,000 prisoners up to a year early to save money amid a budget crisis.

“MGT Push” has included more than 100 people convicted of potentially violent crimes, including aggravated and domestic battery, battering and assaulting police officers, aggravated robbery and reckless firearms discharge, the AP’s analysis shows. That’s not counting the prisoners serving time for nonviolent offenses who committed more serious crimes in the past, including murder.

Quinn signed tougher gun-crime legislation on Dec. 3. The day before, Corrections released 20 inmates early, including a man convicted of domestic battery who was confined for 19 days and a man who had spent a total of 20 days locked up for carrying a concealed weapon, records show.

Smith called it “more efficient” to release the inmates after a few weeks instead of paying to send them to another prison just for a couple of months. Inmates must complete short classes before departing.

Prosecutors understand the budget crisis but oppose early release.

A spokeswoman for Anita Alvarez, state’s attorney for Cook County, which accounts for three-quarters of the inmates who are part of the analysis, said it “could threaten public safety or increase crime.”

“When an individual who was supposedly sent to prison shows up less than a month later, what are the people in the community saying, what is the victim thinking?” asked Winnebago County’s top prosecutor, Joseph Bruscato.

The AP obtained information on approximately 850 already released or scheduled to be by Sunday.

Their average state prison stay was 16 days. Combined with time the inmates spent in county jail prior to that, they averaged 106 days behind bars — 47 percent of the sentence the court decreed they should serve.