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Criminal justice
Quick Hit
by Michael Sandler
11:45am
Thu Sep 6, 2012

Mugshot Web Sites A Dirty But Legal Business

Alex thought the incident was behind him.  

In July 2011, Alex was living in an apartment in Oregon with his girlfriend. The two got into an argument and concerned neighbors called the police. Alex and his girlfriend were both questioned, and because local authorities couldn't leave the residence of a domestic dispute occupied, Alex was taken into custody. He was booked and held overnight, but never charged with a crime.

However, that's when Alex’s problems started. He told Progress Illinois that after being accepted into a Chicago law school, he Googled his own name to see the results. Sure enough, Alex saw his mugshot appear on web sites. Worried that someone from his new school would see his mugshot on the Internet, Alex contacted each site and politely requested it be taken down. All complied except for one, mugshots.com, who’s lawyer told Alex to get the arrest record expunged first.  

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PI Original
by Matthew Blake
1:38pm
Tue Jul 3, 2012
3 comments

Disability Advocates Support Clinic Closings

Health Care

Gov. Pat Quinn’s plan to close two state centers for the developmentally disabled has angered some lawmakers and the state’s main public employees union. But advocates for the developmentally disabled believe Quinn’s move will actually help the lives of hundreds of disabled residents.

Quick Hit
by Matthew Blake
4:26pm
Wed Jun 13, 2012
1 comment

Lone Wolf Stymies Conversion Of Thomson Correctional Center To Federal Prison

U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said under oath before a Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday what he has said for well over a year – that the dormant prison in Thomson, Illinois the federal Justice Department wants to buy would never hold detainees currently at Guantanamo Bay.

Instead, the facility, built by the state government in 2002 only to languish, will house federal inmates. According to the claims by Illinois Democrats and Republicans, the Obama administration, and village of Thomson, use of the prison in such a capacity would revive a downbeat local economy.

Yet one lawmaker has evidently stopped the conversion of Thomson Correctional Center to a Federal Bureau of Prisons operated facility: U.S. Rep. Frank Wolf (pictured), a Republican from Virginia. “The matter has been discussed and debated for over a year,” said U.S. Senator Dick Durbin, an Illinois Democrat at the Senate committee meeting. “It was held up by one Republican Congressman.” Read more »

PI Original
by David Milton Brent
3:13pm
Tue Mar 6, 2012
1 comment

Lessons To Be Learned By The Potential Closing Of Tamms Supermax Prison

Criminal Justice

In his recent budget speech, Gov. Pat Quinn proposed closing Illinois’ Tamms “Supermax” prison. The facility’s 14-year history serves as an apt symbol of how the state’s incarceration system has lost its way.

Quick Hit
by Aricka Flowers
2:28pm
Tue Jul 5, 2011

The Costly Impact Of Wrongful Convictions

The recent findings of a Better Government Association (BGA) investigation lay out the High Cost of Wrongful Convictions. The seven-month probe, which was done along with the Center on Wrongful Convictions and tracked exonerations between 1989 and 2010, found that taxpayers spent $214 million during that time period to send 85 innocent men and women to jail for a collective 926 years.

But wrongful convictions don't only cost the state money, they also cost lives.

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