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Legal Expert Leads Exam of Prison Good-Time Policy
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is asking a former appellate court justice and law-school professor to examine a policy that allowed the early release of hundreds of state prison inmates.

David Erickson is a lecturer at Chicago-Kent College of Law and a former prosecutor. Quinn named him Friday to examine the Corrections Department's "meritorious good time" program.

The Associated Press reported this week the Corrections Department secretly changed its custody policy, resulting in more than 850 inmates being released earlier than expected. Some inmates convicted of violent offenses served fewer than three weeks total time behind bars.

Quinn has suspended the practice.

The 59-year-old Erickson will head a team including Quinn's chief of staff, Jerome Stermer, and governor's lawyer Theodore Chung.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
12 18 09 by Newsroom
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