Thread: 850 Illinois Prisoners Released Early

850 Prisoners Released Early

WSIL-TV—Illinois Governor Pat Quinn has suspended a Department of Corrections policy that's come under fire.

The Associated Press revealed over the weekend that since September 850 prisoners--some convicted of violent offenses-- have been released after serving less than a month behind bars.

Those prisoners are not part of the 1,000 non-violent offenders the governor said he'd release to solve budget issues. Rather, the AP claims they were released due to a previously undisclosed policy change.

The governor won't say if he knew about the change, but claims he's conducting a quote "top to bottom" review.

"We have, obviously, serious financial problems in Illinois, but I do not, in any way want to sacrifice public safety at any time to those financial considerations," Quinn said Monday.

Quinn said Monday his Department of Corrections director has broad discretion to run his department.

A spokeswoman said the policy was put in place in part to save money.

According to the AP that meant sixty-seven inmates convicted of weapons charges, nineteen sentenced for domestic battery, and a dozen for aggravate battery were among the 850 released after serving just days of their sentences.

It’s not the type of news police chiefs like to hear.

“We had a guy released last week that we had linked to twenty-two burglaries in our community and he served less than a third of his time in prison,â€

Back in Feb. 2009 3 federal judges ordered CA. to release 57,000 prisoners to reduce overcrowding and CA. still hasn't released them.

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5190CB20090210

Pat Quinn I hope you can live with the blood on your hands!!!