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Attempted Murder Charge for Illinois Early Release Inmate

By Kamika Dunlap on January 13, 2010 | Last updated on March 21, 2019

As previously discussed, Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn suspended the state's second early release program, acknowledging that many of the freed inmates were back behind bars.

What he didn't mention was that several of those early release inmates had allegations of violent crimes including an attempted murder charge.

According to the Associated Press, one offender who's back after he was released under the program known as "MGT Push" allegedly shot his victim in the leg. Seven parolees are also back in lockup for crimes involving guns or other weapons.

Of the 56 of freed inmates back behind bars - 48 of them for violating rules of their parole.

Gov. Quinn recently appointed Michael McCotter chief public safety officer at the Illinois Department of Corrections to oversee release programs.

The governor also appointed two other aides who will oversee prison issues but report directly to his office, including a special administrator who will assist in the day-to-day management of the Corrections Department.

The recidivism issues represents new problems for Gov. Quinn, who already is facing intense criticism over MGT Push - so-named because it refers to giving prisoners "meritorious good time" credit.

As previously discussed, the MGT Push program involved secretly changing a Corrections policy that required inmates to stay a minimum of 61 days. Basically, that meant crediting some prisoners with enough good-conduct days to qualify for jail release almost immediately.

The MGT program was aimed at saving money for the cash-crunched state budget and resulted in 1,700 prisoners being released last fall. Some served just weeks in state prison after spending time in local jails, and more than 50 were quickly returned to prison for violating parole or committing new offenses.

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