An Illinois House committee has approved early release for prison inmates.
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(AP) -- An Illinois House committee has approved early release for prison inmates.
The bill is SB2621.
They say it will help the state avoid legal trouble over a severely crowded system.
Members of the criminal law Judiciary Committee voted 7-1 Monday to send the good-conduct legislation to the House floor. Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie is sponsoring the measure.
The Chicago Democrat says if lawmakers do nothing they could face a court order to start "churning" inmates out of prison.
Officials used early release for decades but Gov. Pat Quinn shut it down in 2009 after The Associated Press reported his Corrections Department was releasing inmates just weeks or even days after arrival at state prison.
Now prisons house14,000 more inmates than they were designed to hold.
(Copyright ©2012 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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