Secret Prisoner Release Program Put On Hold
By Marcus Gilmer in News on Dec 14, 2009 3:00PM
Over the weekend, the Associated Press reported on "MGT Push," a "program" of sorts that has allowed over 850 prisoners to be released early from prison. And in the wake of that report and outrage over it, Gov. Quinn suspended the program yesterday. The "MGT Push" program, according to notes obtained by the AP, is saving money by ignoring a policy that requires inmates to serve at least 61 days and is instead awarding them discretionary good-conduct credit as soon as they enter prison, which means some prisoners have enough good-conduct days to be released almost immediately. "MGT Push" is different than the early prisoner release program that Gov. Quinn announced earlier this year in an attempt to save money for the state's budget; plans finalized in September arranged for the release of 1,000 prisoners of which so far only 117 have been released.
After seeing the AP report, Quinn suspended the program Sunday. He 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."
According to information obtained by the AP, the total average time the "MGT Push" prisoners spent behind bars - state prison plus county lock-up - was 106 days, or about 47 percent of the sentence set by the courts.