Just two days after the Governor's office refused to participate in a legislative inquiry into the program, the administration released its long-awaited internal investigation. The release followed the appointment of a special Illinois Joint Investigatory Panel on Early Release, formed by Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) and House Republican Leader Tom Cross (R-Oswego).

The report prompted Radogno and Cross to again renew their request for the administration to testify before the panel.

Former Judge David Erickson's report, first commissioned in December, declared the Meritorious Good Time (MGT) Push program a failure and said the Quinn administration used the program as a means of reducing prison populations, rather than rewarding inmates for good behavior.

"...inmates had to do little or nothing to demonstrate 'meritorious' conduct deserving MGT Credit awards and then, given the perceived irrevocability of MGT Credit, could do nothing to jeopardize their awards.

"Under MGT Push and under the old MGT program, inmates were labeled as 'meritorious' simply by virtue of being delivered into DOC custody," the report said.

Administration Knew About It

When news broke of the "MGT Push" program, Governor Quinn claimed he was unaware of the program.

However, during the press conference to announce the results of the investigation, Judge Erickson said "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds" of persons knew about the program, including "the people at work in the administration."

The revelation raised questions how Quinn could not have known that such a controversial program was being carried out by his own administration.

In discussing the use of the term "secret" to describe the early release program, Erickson said, "Well that's just about the worst secret I ever heard... hundreds of people worked in the system and knew about it... 1,700 people were released. Their lawyers knew about it. They knew about it. Their families knew about it. The people at work in the administration knew about it...

"All I know is when more than one person knows something it's not a secret and when hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people know, it's certainly not a secret."

Radogno Clarifies Issue of Prisoner Tracking Computers

During the press conference on Friday, members of the Quinn administration once again leveled a misleading claim regarding funding for a new inmate tracking system at the Illinois Department of Corrections.

That prompted Senate Republican Leader Christine Radogno (R-Lemont) to issue the following statement.

"In 2009, when the four legislative leaders and the Governor were negotiating a $30 billion capital measure, the Governor never once raised the issue of computers for the Department of Corrections. The Governor had substantial input into the projects identified in the capital measure and did not allocate or seek any funding for a computer system at the Department of Corrections.

"In last year's operating budget, over $3 billion in discretionary lump sums were handed to the Governor to spend in any way he chose. Again this year, the Governor has a similar amount available for discretionary spending. In fact, this Governor has received more flexibility than any governor in the history of the state to allocate money any way he chooses.

"To suggest that legislators of either party have somehow prevented him from upgrading the prisoner tracking system at the Department of Corrections is just not true.