Jerry's Journal

People ex rel. Department of Corrections v. Hawkins, 2011 IL 110792 (June 16, 2011).

Where, pursuant to provisions of the Unified Code of Corrections, the Department of Corrections deducted portions of an inmate’s prison wages earned during incarceration for expenses arising from that incarceration, with his remaining prison wages placed in a bank account that reached approximately $11,000, and suit was brought by the Attorney General seeking over $455,000 as reimbursement under section 3–7–6 of the Code for the state’s “cost of the care, custody, treatment and rehabilitation provided to” defendant, the supreme court found that, although the relevant statutory language in the Code might be ambiguous, legislative intent reveals that prison wages from which partial deductions have been made should not be the subject of further recovery attempts by the state.

Tags: Corrections