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Department of Corrections
Quick Hit
by Robert Dietz
10:26am
Wed Mar 16, 2011

DOC Lawsuit Amplifies Recidivism Problem In State Prisons

A seldom-used law in Illinois to force inmates to pay for their own incarceration is colliding with policies meant to limit recidivism and prepare prisoners for their life outside the jail cell. The Department of Corrections (DOC) is suing one of its inmates for the pittance he's made working for a program designed to give him some pocket change when he's released.

Writing in the Chicago Tribune, Ameet Sachdev tells the story of Kensley Hawkins, a prisoner since 1982, when he was sentenced to 60 years for killing a man and attempting to kill two Chicago police officers. While in prison, Hawkins took advantage of a work program aimed at teaching inmates job skills they can use outside of prison and giving them a little money to save for when they get out.

But Hawkins was too good at it, apparently. After working in the wood shop for $2 a day, Hawkins -- who is up for parole in 2028 -- saved $11,000 in a bank account. Now, DOC is after it all. Citing a law that says inmates must pay their incarceration fees, and can be held liable if they have more than $10,000 in assets, the DOC is suing Hawkins for the $455,000 and change it cost to house him since 1982. The case is now in front of the state Supreme Court.

This is an issue we've highlighted before. In October, the Brennan Center for Justice issued a report (PDF) stating that fees in Illinois -- those imposed upon defendants to pay for their prosecution, prisoners to pay for their time in jail, and ex-cons to pay for their probation -- creates a "debtors' prison." Such fees, much like the ones charged to Hawkins, only exacerbate the serious problem of prisoner recidivism in Illinois.

Quick Hit
by dradmin
4:55pm
Fri Mar 4, 2011

Black Caucus Meets With Quinn To Discuss Human Services Cuts

Add members of the General Assembly's Legislative Black Caucus to those expressing deep unease about the $100 million in budget cuts the Quinn administration wants the Department of Human Services to carry out before the state's current fiscal year ends. Members of the group met with the governor Wednesday to discuss the issue.

State Rep. William Davis (D-East Hazel Crest) told Progress Illinois the meeting wasn't antagonistic. But he didn't mince words about what he sees as the consequences of the cuts either. The reductions are "a blueprint for African Americans going to the Department of Corrections," Davis said. Particularly frustrating is the fact that the cuts are on the table now while corrections is reccommended for a 14.6 percent increase (PDF) in General Revenue Fund dollars in next year's budget. "We met with the governor ... about other places the pain could be spread around instead of just on poor people," said State Rep. LaShawn Ford (D-Chicago).

"Governor Quinn’s meeting this week with the Black Caucus was a productive, big-picture meeting that covered the state’s budget, ensuring our economic stability and a wide range of other pressing issues we must address during the spring legislative session," a Quinn spokesperson wrote in an email. "This was really the first opportunity Governor Quinn has had in some time to meet with the Black Caucus, and it was the first of many discussions that will take place in the weeks and months ahead."

Davis also said there's talk of creating a working group to continue talking about this year's and next year's budget, the broad revenue outlines of which, however fuzzily, are starting to form. Since Quinn narrowly won an election last year with huge African-American support, Davis said the governor needs to step up for black communities struggling with high unemployment and social ills. Otherwise, he said, the governor could soon find himself a Democratic governor with a Republican General Assembly.

Quick Hit
by Micah Maidenberg
5:05pm
Fri Feb 25, 2011

Fissures Within The Democratic Caucus Over DHS Cuts

In our story yesterday about the current-year budget cuts Gov. Pat Quinn's administration is seeking from the Department of Human Services, we focused at one point on a tense exchange between State Sen. William Delgado (D-Chicago) and a top Quinn budget manager. Delgado, a Democrat representing the 2nd State Senate district, was angry that DHS programming for alcohol and drug treatment is staring down cuts this year while the Department of Corrections, which runs Illinois' prisons, is proposed for more funding in Quinn's next budget.

The State Democrats posted more comments from Delgado about the issue on their website today. Delgado didn't pull his punches:

It seems that the Governor is targeting human service programs that are specifically targeting economic struggling populations and transferring those funds to the Department of Corrections, where people will end up when those services are cut from the budget. I inquired with the Governor’s office if other agencies are being targeted for reductions instead of always cutting human service programs. I’ve received no response thus far.

Over in the House, meanwhile, State Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) is gathering backers for HB 106, legislation that says the "elimination of State funding for addiction treatment and prevention shall be immediately halted." The bill has nearly 30 sponsors in all, including some members of the GOP caucus. Treatment Alternatives for Safer Communities, a drug counseling organization, estimates that the mid-year cuts proposed for addiction services would result in 55,000 people losing access to rehabilitation initiatives and thousands of layoffs at social service agencies.

Quick Hit
by Micah Maidenberg
2:49pm
Fri Sep 3, 2010

Brady On Prison Reform? Still Waiting.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bill Brady's refusal to take specific stands on key issues facing the state was a common thread of his campaign this summer. On the budget crisis, time and time (and time again) we've heard Brady take a pass at articulating how he'd solve the state's $13 billion deficit without raising taxes and where in the budget he would institute cuts. 

Brady's tendency to take a trust-me approach to solving thorny policy challenges extends to the state's prison system. Michael Randle, head of the Illinois Department of Corrections and the controversial MGT Push early release program, is resigning, and Brady's campaign used the news to attack Gov. Pat Quinn. But proposals and details about how Brady would reform a prison system that costs $1.5 billion annually yet fails to rehabilitate many prisoners (the recidivism rate is 50 percent) simply aren't yet in sight. This is getting tiresome, and opinion makers are noticing. Check out the editorial published last night by the Tribune:

Brady has hammered Quinn for endangering the public, demanded Randle's ouster and, on Thursday, complained that Randle was allowed to resign without a reprimand. It all shows the Quinn administration is "a revolving door of reckless ineptitude," a Brady spokeswoman said. We get it. But when is Brady going to stop thundering about Quinn's ideas and share some of his own?

And over at the Sun-Times, the paper's editorial board takes Brady to task for previously trying to "make political hay of Randle's programs even before he had the facts in hand."

Perhaps this style -- attacks and generalities -- shouldn't be surprising in an election year said to be bad for incumbents, and particularly incumbent Democrats. But it doesn't offer voters a substantive debate. And political hay won't solve the state's enormous problems.