Calling an early release program for state prisoners "a case study in bad judgment," Democratic gubernatorial candidate Dan Hynes continued to press Gov. Pat Quinn for explanations yesterday.
During a press conference at his campaign headquarters in Chicago, Hynes released new figures on crimes committed by inmates released early. He called the state's publication of a "scrambled list" of released inmates a "breach of responsibility."
"This information, I think, tells a horrible story about a program that was mismanaged," Hynes said. "There are consequences to Gov. Quinn's bad judgment."
Elizabeth Austin, Quinn's campaign spokeswoman, referred questions to the Illinois Department of Corrections. A spokeswoman at the department, Januari Smith, was not immediately available.
The list of inmates includes the names and identification numbers for 1,718 state prisoners released early under a controversial "meritorious good time" program.
The names on the list are not in alphabetical order, and information about the inmates is available separately on the D.O.C. Web site. Details about the inmates include criminal histories, time served and original sentence lengths.
Hynes sent a request for more information to Edward W. Huntley, the D.O.C.'s legal officer, on Dec. 18. The campaign sent a second letter on Jan. 4, stating that the first request was ignored.
Hynes said the D.O.C. has not responded to the second request. Under the revised Illinois Freedom of Information Act, which took effect Jan. 1, the deadline for a response passed five working days after it was received.
"I do not believe crime victims, or law enforcement for that matter, should have to take it upon themselves to check and see whether their attacker has been let out of prison early," Hynes said, "which is exactly what Pat Quinn is saying by ignoring these repeated requests for information."
According to the Hynes campaign, about 21 inmates released early had "murder-related" convictions on their records, 20 committed sexual offenses, 60 committed domestic battery, 90 committed aggravated battery and 57 committed aggravated or armed robbery.
Given his complaints about insufficient information, I asked Hynes to explain how his campaign arrived at those figures.
He said it was only after "plugging in" individual inmates' names on the D.O.C. search tool that the campaign was able to draw those conclusions. He said the process should not be so tedious and time-consuming.
More broadly, Hynes declined to take a stand on whether violent inmates should be allowed to leave prison early.
"As a general matter, I don't believe so," he said, but he quickly added that he was not ready to come down on the issue definitively without further discussion.
The problem at hand, he said, is that Gov. Quinn's actions lacked transparency, not necessarily that the program existed.
Hynes, the state comptroller, also responded to revelations that his former campaign consultant, William Norels, has a criminal past, including a felony for which he served nine months of a two-year sentence.
Austin, Quinn's campaign spokeswoman, argued that Norels' history is extra troubling because it involved public funds.
"Even worse, the felon in Hynes’ campaign was convicted of stealing $100,000 in state grant money," she said in a statement, "tax dollars that were intended to help inner-city businesses expand and create new jobs."
Austin continued, "Maybe Hynes should clean up his own house before throwing more stones."
Hynes said his campaign fired Norels as soon as he learned about his history.
"We were unaware that he had this in his past," Hynes said. "We let him go. ... We take action. ... We take responsibility."