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Lawmakers Questions Early Prisoner Release Program
A state lawmaker says the governor's latest task force is not a good idea.

The issue is a change in "meritorious good time" for prison inmates, which led to the early release of violent criminals. The governor appointed a task force to get to the bottom of it, but State Rep. Jack Franks (D-Woodstock) says the governor should have the answers without needing a task force, since the Department of Corrections is directly under his control, and the director of corrections answers directly to the governor.

Gov. Pat Quinn appointed task forces to discover the facts on three issues that have arisen during his 11 months in office: Political influence on admissions at the University of Illinois, cemetery regulation, and the mix of patients at nursing homes. Franks notes that the U. of I. is a quasi-government institution but it is not run as a state agency directly by the governor, and the other two are private industries that are regulated by the state.

Franks says he doesn’t know if heads have to roll over this, because the governor's office has been slow to explain what happened and has changed the story several times.

Franks says the governor means well, but from a policy standpoint, he's paralyzed by the Democratic primary for governor, now six weeks away, and is afraid to take a stand on or take responsibility for a tough issue.

(Illinois Radio Network)
12 22 09 by Newsroom
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