Legislation would end lawsuits against prison inmates - UNBELIEVABLE - It just ain't fair to make a Colored person pay for ANYTHING, even JAIL!

Illinois State Negro Pandering lawmakers are seeking to end a little-known but controversial program that tries to recoup the costs of incarceration from current and former inmates, saying the state recovers little money and the program puts up obstacles for prisoners returning to the community.

State Rep. Kelly Cassidy, D-Chicago, and state Sen. Daniel Biss, D-Evanston, said they acted after reading a Nov. 30 Tribune story detailing an Illinois Department of Corrections program that sues prisoners to recover the costs of locking them up.

The two legislators' companion House and Senate bills, introduced earlier this month, would repeal provisions of the code of corrections that allows the prison system to identify inmates with assets and target them for litigation. The lawsuits are filed by the attorney general's office.

"It's so wrongheaded," Cassidy said Tuesday of the law. "People mostly were mortified we were doing this."

Biss said suing prisoners undermined the state's efforts to help inmates stay out of prison.

"I don't think it's consistent with how you fund government, nor is it consistent with principles of rehabilitation," he said in an interview Tuesday. "Generally speaking, when someone is released from prison, your hope is they will wind up on their feet. Taking what in many cases is limited resources is counterproductive."

State Rep. Mary Flowers, another Chicago Democrat, has filed a similar measure. Flowers called the state's litigation a form of "bullying" inmates.

"If a person is released and serves their time, they should be free," Flowers said. "They should not have to continue to pay to remain free."

Biss said the measures would stop the state from seeking to recover money in pending cases and end the practice in the future.

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