PONTIAC - Mayor Scott McCoy accused state officials Tuesday of intentionally not sending parole violators back to prison in a bid to save money. | Video

At a news conference at Pontiac City Hall, McCoy leveled the charges as part of a larger effort to fight the Department of Corrections' plan to close Pontiac Correctional Center by Dec. 31. McCoy says reducing the prison population will help the state close the prison, which is projected to save the state millions of dollars.

"This is all in an effort to save money for the state and I am up for saving money, but this is not where you make those cuts," McCoy said of what he sees as an effort to keep parole violators out of prison. "It is because they shut the door to the Department of Corrections and don't want them back."

McCoy said the recidivism rates are lower than in previous years because the state is deliberately avoiding classifying parolees as being in violation. That leaves dangerous criminals on the streets instead of sending them back to prison, he said.

McCoy based his conclusions on a year-to-year comparison of statistics from the Cook County sheriff's office. He looked at periods each November to find the daily average for how many parole violators in Cook County went back to DOC.

He said the daily average jumped from 1,070 in 2002 to 1,350 in 2003 before plunging to 480 in 2004 and 100 this year, he said. Inmates who violated their paroles without being arrested on other charges were not included.

He concluded the "shocking" drop cannot be real, but DOC Assistant Director Deanne Benos said programs designed to prevent recidivism are working. She also said McCoy was looking at incomplete data that don't show the whole picture.

"We understand and appreciate that the mayor is going to fight to keep jobs in his community, but he is really not on target by focusing on parole," said Benos, who was contacted after McCoy's news conference. "The reality of it is that it's true, our parole program has reduced crime and prison admissions."

McCoy said the drop in 2004 corresponds to Gov. Rod Blagojevich's announcement that year that he was taking an "aggressive new approach to preparing offenders for reentry into their communities."

Benos agreed prison population growth has slowed because of fewer parole violations, but she attributed that to successful efforts to keep parolees on the right track.

She said there now are more parole officers because of Blagojevich's plan, and better monitoring helps parolees stay out of trouble.

She also noted that a number of successful DOC drug programs, such as one at Sheridan Correctional Center, are helping inmates avoid committing new crimes when they are paroled.

"If you pull (drug offenders) from the community and send them to a treatment center, you can improve on their conduct through honest work and addressing their drug addiction," she said.

"We respect that the mayor is going to fight to keep the jobs in his community, but it is deeply unfortunate that he would attack the programs instead of addressing the root causes of crime," Benos said.

McCoy agreed the state is taking effective action to reduce recidivism, but he doubts the improvements are as dramatic as state data would suggest.

"I just think it's not possible to do it overnight like that and have the numbers drop to record lows," he said.

McCoy said he started looking into parole and recidivism issues when he heard about the slayings last month of three relatives of singer and actress Jennifer Hudson in Chicago. A man defined as a "person of interest" by police in the case was on parole for, amongst other charges, attempted murder.

The man was arrested on suspicion of drug possession in June, but the judge did not violate his parole then.

Benos said singling out such a high profile, violent case was off-base.

"Creating alarm through one or two cases is inaccurate," she said. "A majority of people on parole in Illinois are for drug and property crime, which is nonviolent."

She also noted that the decision on the charges was the judge's, no DOC's.