CHICAGO (WBBM) -- An Illinois House committee Wednesday heard impassioned testimony from both sides on a bill that would provide early release for certain long-term inmates in state prisons.
The measure is prompted by the huge backlog of clemency petitions awaiting action by Gov. Rod Blagojevich. It would allow inmates 50 years of age or older, who have served at least 25 consecutive years in prison, to petition the courts instead of the governor for early release, so along as they are not sentenced to death.
Supporters called it a long-overdue, restorative measure; prosecutors called it unconstitutional, an overreaction to a temporary problem and a slap in the face of crime victims and their families.
The chair of the Illinois House Prison Reform Committee, State Rep. Eddie Washington (D-Waukegan), is the bill’s chief sponsor and chaired the hearing, at the James R. Thompson Center in downtown Chicago. Supporters cited studies that say older inmates who have spent so long in prison rarely commit new crimes, and are no longer a threat to public safety.
A 2003 study in Pennsylvania, cited by the bill’s supporters, showed fewer than 2 percent committed new crimes once released, and that none involved a violent crime.
Supporters also said that the courts would have the right to reject an inmate’s petition if they deemed a prisoner to be a threat, and say it is needed because Gov. Rod Blagojevich has allowed more than 3,000 clemency petitions to pile up on his desk. Two of the state’s most prominent prosecutors disagreed.
Cook County State’s Attorney Dick Devine said he considers the bill unconstitutional on its face, because it would take the clemency powers granted exclusively to the governor under the Illinois Constitution and give them to judges.
Speaking as president of the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Association, which represents prosecutors throughout the state of Illinois, DuPage County State’s Attorney Joe Birkett said it would free prisoners “without a hearing, without any input from the state, without any representation by the state’s attorney or the attorney general, without a process or procedure, simply a petition and certain findings made by the court.”
Birkett said the measure, if enacted “would turn the notion of truth in sentencing on its head” because it would allow judges to cut short sentences of any length.
“There’s no standard of proof, no burden of proof, and it’s an affront to the rights of crime victims in our state,” he said. The bill remains in a House committee.
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