the crime report

The Illinois prisons chief who took the blame for a botched prisoner early release program under Gov. Pat Quinn is resigning as the Democratic governor seeks to stem the political damage from an election-year controversy, reports the Chicago Tribune. Michael Randle is leaving Sept. 17 to “pursue a new opportunity” out of state. Acting on Quinn’s general instructions to cut costs, Randle started a program last September that sped up the rate prisoners could earn good time credit. That lead to 1,745 inmates being let out an average of 36 days before the end of their sentence. Some convicts were released almost immediately, before corrections officials could assess their rehabilitation needs. And some of those released early went on to commit additional crimes. (more…)

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The Justice Department is doing a poor job monitoring the effectiveness of prisoner re-entry programs aimed at reducing recidivism, says a report from the department’s Inspector General quoted by MainJustice.com. The Inspector General could not determine if Office Of Justice Programs grants were successful in reducing recidivism rates because the office does not effectively track how the programs that receive grants spend their funds. (more…)

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