Progress Illinois

New Illinois Department of Corrections Director Michael Randle has had a busy first few months on the job. In September, he issued a set of 10 proposals to reform the Tamms Correctional Center, a flawed yet important plan that finally acknowledges the human rights abuses that have been taking place under the state's watch. Now, facing massive budget deficits and an immense prison population, Randle is leading the Quinn administration's effort to roll out an early release program.

Thankfully, he's taking the correct approach. In an interview with the State Journal-Register over the weekend, Randle said his department is "using [the budget crisis] as an opportunity to review every facet in this department," including the state's punitive and inefficient approach to handling what he calls "short-term offenders":

Randle says 47 percent of all inmates released from Illinois prisons have been there six months or less; 22 percent have been in state custody for fewer than 63 days. This is largely because of a combination of prisoners having already received substantial credit for time served in a county jail while awaiting trial and a cumbersome and costly intake process that precedes their assignment to the prison where they are to serve their sentence.

“By the time a guy comes to us and he gets his jail time credit for the days that he served in county and he gets his statutory credit, I’m letting these guys go before I can get them into a parent institution,” Randle said. “And even if I got them to a parent institution, I’ve got a waiting list for drug treatment in my parent institution. These guys are coming and going so fast that we are not able to get them the treatment that they need.”

Both the Sun-Times and the Journal-Register editorial boards have voiced approval of the early release program. The former says it is "well-designed to minimize the risk to the public, and in fact, it is intended to improve public safety in the long run by doing a better job of rehabilitating ex-offenders." They also laud Randle and a crew of state lawmakers (led by Chicagoans Rep. Will Burns and Sen. Kwame Raoul) for looking at sustainable ways to lower Illinois' incarceration rate, namely by passing and vowing to support the Illinois Crime Reduction Act of 2009, which the General Assembly approved in May. SJ-R details the benefits of the bill:

The passage of the Illinois Crime Reduction Act of 2009 last spring predated Randle’s appointment, but it ushers in a host of progressive and sensible changes to this state’s criminal justice system. By establishing better criteria for evaluating offenders and providing incentives for county judges to keep certain nonviolent offenders out of the state prison system, the new law holds great promise for making the corrections system less expensive and more effective.

With reformers adding their voice to a debate that has long been dominated by law-and-order politicians, maybe there is still hope for more intelligent criminal justice policies in the Land of Lincoln.