Gov. Pat Quinn admitted Wednesday that state corrections officials made a “mistake” in putting hundreds of inmates back on the street after just a few weeks in prison and said he didn’t know about his own administration’s cost-cutting decision beforehand.
Stung by the politically embarrassing revelations, the governor blamed his hand-picked corrections chief, Michael Randle, for exercising “bad judgment” but said he will not fire him.
“I have told (Randle) in no uncertain terms that this was a big mistake and I am very disappointed that this occurred,” Quinn said at a Chicago news conference.
Instead, the governor announced he was ending the program that accelerated good-time credit of sentences for more than 1,700 inmates this fall — and saw more than 50 quickly return to prison for violating parole or getting arrested.
With little more than a month remaining before Quinn faces Democratic primary voters, the governor’s mea culpa provided plenty of fodder for his Democratic and Republican rivals.
Democratic challenger Dan Hynes’ campaign said in a statement that Quinn failed to take responsibility, offered a “lame” explanation and that “this whole sorry affair is an outrageous violation of trust.”
The host of Republican candidates in the Feb. 2 primary adopted a similar theme, with state Sen. Kirk Dillard, of Hinsdale, saying Quinn “needs to stand up, tell the truth and take responsibility for his actions instead of creating a scapegoat.”
Quinn’s explanation that he was unaware of a policy instituted by a major state agency under his control also undercuts one of his major campaign themes — that he’s the one who has stabilized state government after taking over nearly a year ago from disgraced ex- Gov. Rod Blagojevich.
The governor’s spokesman, Bob Reed, said Wednesday’s admissions show the administration is “responsive and forthright” about addressing problems. Reed did not say whether Randle informed the governor’s chief of staff about the early-release program.
Moreover, the developments come as Quinn is promising a somewhat skittish public that safety would not be compromised by the state’s effort to sell a little-used state prison in northwestern Illinois to the federal government to house terror suspects detained at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Quinn moved to end a program that he said Randle put in place from Sept. 16 to Dec. 13 in which 1,718 inmates got released early from state prisons. About 80 percent of the inmates would have been released by Wednesday, while the rest would have gotten out by the end of January, the administration said. The inmates on average served 37 days less than they would have if the state did not adopt the early-release program, Quinn said.
The governor sought to place much of the blame on the state’s budget woes, saying Randle implemented the program as a way to save money after lawmakers refused to pass an income tax increase.
To an extent, Quinn is right — the state’s prisons were overcrowded and there were too few parole officers before he became governor. But Quinn also signed a budget last summer that put the spending power in his hands. And he decided to spend the bulk on health care, education and social services — and to save money on prisons.
Randle said it was his responsibility to make sure budget cuts were carried out according to Quinn’s order that public safety not be compromised. Under the program, dubbed “meritorious good time push,” Randle could grant any inmate 90 days’ worth of credit based on their behavior in prison. Many were granted such credit immediately and as a result, served only weeks in state prison after starting their terms at county jails.
“There were mistakes made in judgment and the planning,” Randle said. “It was not implemented the way that the governor had directed, and for that, as director of this agency, I take responsibility.”
Of those released, Quinn said 56 are back in state custody. Of those, 48 are charged with violating the terms of their release, and eight have been charged with new offenses. Six were arrested for retail theft or drugs and one for domestic assault. Another inmate released Sept. 22 after an aggravated drunken driving conviction was arrested on the same charge less than a month later, records show.
The impact of the early-release program is still unfolding. Prison officials released the long list of who was released Wednesday afternoon and would not say which of the inmates were among the 48 who violated parole.
Quinn said Wednesday that all prisoners now will be required to serve at least 61 days behind state bars before they can earn such credit, which is typically given for completion of drug rehabilitation programs or education courses. Prison officials also must provide prosecutors with at least 14 days’ notice before an inmate is released.
Quinn and Randle also said they will work to narrow the state statute guiding who qualifies for good behavior credit to exclude crimes such a drunken driving.
But David Erickson, a former judge that Quinn appointed to review the program, cautioned that awarding credit for good behavior is not inherently a bad thing.
“Meritorious good time is not our enemy here, it’s not,” Erickson said. “It’s a good thing. It’s a way to help rehabilitate people, especially young people.”
The accelerated behavior credit program is separate from a policy previously announced by Quinn to release 1,000 nonviolent offenders early if they are within the last year of their sentence.
Tribune reporter Rick Pearson contributed to this report. mcgarcia@tribune.com
