Congressional representative of the local 100th district C.D. Davidsmeyer has passed a very interesting bill through the Illinois House that will now reach the Senate. The bill amends the Unified Code of Corrections. Essentially, Davidsmeyer is trying to make it easier for criminals who haven’t committed a heinous crime to go to a boot camp instead of a state prison.
House Bill 4364 was first filed with the state clerk at the end of January and has since been debated by the Rules Committee and the Judiciary-Criminal Committee. Since then, Terri Bryant of the 115th district and Natalie Phelps Finnie of the 118th district were both named chief-co-sponsors.
House Bill 4364 then made its way to the House of Representatives yesterday, where after a brief debate the bill passed unanimously, 112 votes in the affirmative with one abstension and five excused absences.
Representative Davidsmeyer gives an overview of the benefits of this bill becoming law, as well as the rights of the court to excuse any individual from being allowed in a boot camp.
“This bill allows the Department of Corrections to push people into work camp programs and other alternative programs that can benefit from them without having to go through the courts. The courts have the ability to say an individual should not be in this program, ]but it allows them [the Department of Corrections] to better use their assets.”
House Bill 4364 will have its very first reading in the Senate this morning.