Progress Illinois

Just days after disclosing his review of the Tamms supermax prison, Illinois Department of Corrections director Michael Randle told reporters yesterday that, within the month, the state will begin to release 1,000 current inmates as part of its budget reduction strategy. The AP reports:

Randle said it will take two to four weeks to review the prisoners' files, inspect the places they'll be living and set them up with a parole agent and electronic monitoring. Randle said it's not clear how long it will take to release all of the roughly 1,000 eligible inmates.

Capitol Fax writes today that his move is "fraught with political peril, but not a bad idea."  Indeed, the inmates being released are nonviolent offenders serving sentences less than one year long. These are not hardened criminals -- many are likely in for drug offenses -- and they were scheduled for release anyway. Those who have committed sex offenses, been convicted of domestic abuse, or violated their parole will not be considered.

If our political culture was more rational and humane, Quinn's decision would not be controversial.  But law-and-order politics still rule the day in Illinois, as evidenced by the critical response to the plan from major players in the Democratic Party as well as the stalled efforts at broader sentencing reforms in the Democratic-controlled General Assembly. And while there are some enlightened pols working hard to control the size of the prison system and provide resources to communities impacted by recidivism, many of the transformative proposals required to improve our criminal justice system aren't even on the table yet.

This simple early-release plan is likely to face a sizeable amount of resistance, proving we have a long way to go.

Image used under a Creative Commons license by Flickr user lapstrake.