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| State cuts may include early release of prisoners |
| By pantagraph.com |
| Published: 07/08/2009 |
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SPRINGFIELD -- Hundreds of inmates could be released from Illinois prisons in the coming months as part of a budget-cutting tactic unveiled Tuesday by Gov. Pat Quinn. Faced with a massive state deficit and a lingering budget impasse with lawmakers, Quinn announced the layoffs of 1,000 workers from prisons across the state. The first 500 of those will take effect Sept. 30 and target workers at prisons in East Moline, Lincoln, Logan, Decatur, Vandalia and Vienna. Because there would be fewer workers at those minimum-security facilities, the agency is reviewing which inmates might qualify for early release. "Obviously you have to downsize if you lay people off," Corrections spokesman Derek Schnapp said Tuesday. The early release of inmates as a budget-cutting tool is a departure from the recent past, in which former Gov. Rod Blagojevich repeatedly threatened to shut down entire prisons in order to save money. He was not successful in those efforts. State Rep. Bill Mitchell, R-Forsyth, represents workers at three of the central Illinois prisons affected by the cuts. "You have to take the governor seriously," Mitchell said Tuesday. "But, there are a lot of questions to be answered." Read more. |
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