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Illinois Department of Corrections Spent $2M+ on Cable Subscriptions for Inmates

Dec. 5, 2012 9:45pm Becket Adams

The Illinois Department of Corrections from 2010-2012 spent approximately $2.26 million on cable subscriptions for prison inmates, according to the Illinois Policy Institute and a recent CNSNews.com report.

The Illinois Policy Institute estimates that between July 2010 and June 2012, the Illinois Department of Corrections spent $2,261,009 on cable television for prison inmates, a Freedom of Information Act request shows.

TV channels provided to prisoners include MTV, CMT, Fox Sports, ESPN, Lifetime, BET, the Home Shopping Network, Speed, and Spike TV.

Wait, Lifetime?

“Spending more than $2 million on cable TV for inmates is something Illinois can’t afford, especially considering the state’s already costly prison system,” reads the Illinois Policy Institute’s Nov. 19 “2012 Piglet Book,” co-authored by Benjamin VanMetre and Ted Dabrowski.

“It should be worrisome that the state is wasting taxpayer dollars to fund multimillion dollar cable bills for inmates. Instead of watching Snooki on MTV, maybe inmates’ attention would be better focused on learning a trade skill or studying for a degree,” the report adds.

The goal of the “2012 Piglet Book,” according to its authors, is to “raise awareness about what they view as wasteful spending in Illinois,” as CNSNews.com puts it.

“Something in Illinois we continually hear all the time is that there’s no place left to cut, that we have to increase taxes because lawmakers have cut everything there is to cut,” VanMetre told CNSNews.com.

“But what we do in ‘Piglet’ is we highlight nearly 200 examples of just outrageous ways that lawmakers are spending our money. So, the goal of this project is to make individuals aware of where their tax dollars are being spent and to really push back against this idea that there’s no room left to cut spending,” he adds.

Oh, also, coming in at approximately $271 billion, Illinois has the unfortunate distinction of being the state with the fourth largest debt burden in the country.

“Total appropriations in the state budget for FY 2010 and 2011 were $53.5 billion and $60.5 billion, respectively,” CNSNews.com adds.

And just for fun, here are other examples of public expenditures deemed “wasteful” by the “Piglet” book:

Over $5 million in corporate relocation fees for Boeing.
$1,043,000 for “electric vehicle charging infrastructure.”
$15.9 million “Communities Putting Prevention to Work” stimulus grant in the Chicago metro area.
$2.3 million for a 3D movie theater in Granite City, Illinois.

Follow Becket Adams (@BecketAdams) on Twitter

Featured image courtesy Getty Images.

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Comments (59)

marybethelizabeth
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 8:37am
kick back from the cable provider?

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- dosdelgados
  Posted on December 6, 2012 at 4:41pm
  Are you a good witch or a bad witch?
  
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- iampraying4u
  Posted on December 7, 2012 at 11:18am
  enought to make you puke
  
  Report this comment
AUsername
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 8:25am
you know that is inhumane to, give them free internet with high performing computers and give them x box 360′s ps3′s and wii’s to play with.

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ButtKickingScripture
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 8:24am
And they wonder why people rob banks for $1… Welcome to Grand Stay Resort!! All the accommodations of home locked in a cell.

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- naughtycal
  Posted on December 6, 2012 at 10:02am
  exactly,
  We need prisons to go back to the culture of 8 -12 hour works days of digging holes to fill back up and hammering big rocks into little rocks. Work camps where inmates are too tired to commit rapes and engage in criminal activities. We also need zero tolerence behind bars as well. If you already have a life sentence and commit more violent acts behind bars it automaticly increases to a death sentence. If you have a 20 year sentence and commit more violent acts in prison that increases to a life sentence. Prisons should be horrible places where none of the cretaure comforts that legal citizens enjoy should be provided. The only entertainment in prison should be a book cart from the prison library.All this cable t/v is a right crap that the ACLU pushed is BS. I have to pay 65.00 a month for what they say is a pediphile’s basic human right.
  
  Report this comment
GuruMeditation
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 8:15am
This is where the homeless dude without shoes can get his piece of the pie.

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redfish52
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 7:41am
I could save the state millions of dollars…the cost would be one DVD player and last seasons DVD of COPS that would be looped over and over….cost? Around $300…..done!

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Sorocialism
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 6:54am
At $60 per T.V. That is more than 37,600 Televisions.

Well done Illinois…Quality oversight of hard earned taxpayer money there…

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- starman70
  Posted on December 6, 2012 at 8:09am
  Joe Arpiao has the right idea. Live in tents, wear PINK jumpsuits, eat at a meal tent and make the time in prison so harsh that they won’t want to return.
  
  Mollycoddling such as this is outrageous especially for a state which is BROKE!!
  
  Report this comment
RIGS
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 6:45am
Lets add FREE PIZZAS W/DELIEVERY,BEER, FRESH POPPED POP CORN,BEER KEGS,ETC.

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brknhrt
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 5:59am
The reason for all of the goodies they get in IL prisons is because most of the governors end up there. Let’s see, when I lived in IL it was 5 out of the last 8 ended up in prison. I think it might be 6 out of 8 now, but a current resident of IL will have to clarify that.

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charleyrocks
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 5:32am
Gosh tv-, meals- exercise chat time- bed- what is their punishment? Sounds good for the homeless, they should be allowed the same luxury.

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- Sorocialism
  Posted on December 6, 2012 at 7:02am
  The northern spotted owl got 9.6 million acres of land…We could give 2 acres of land to each of the approximately 70,000 homeless veterans in the U.S. and there would still be over 9 million acres left for the dumb owl.
  
  Report this comment
betterpart
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 4:25am
You’ve been flagged, scammer-spammer.

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Lordcsmith
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 2:21am
Makes me want to kick Dostoevsky square in the jewels.

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Conservative2
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 12:37am
my classmate’s ex-wife lies!

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dontbotherme
Posted on December 6, 2012 at 12:24am
I, sadly, live in this state of ill repute, Illinois. And we are broke. And our taxes keep going up. And we cannot sell our home to get the heck out of here. Sigh…..

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revelation2012
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:39pm
but NO ONE can manage to get our men and women’s votes here in time for election ,,,,,,,,,

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- DadRocked
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:55pm
  Isnt that the truth ! Such a shame… But when only 1% of us, in the U.S. population has worn or is wearing the uniform… Well, we don’t matter to the vote counters in the grand scheme…
  
  Report this comment
pwatkins
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:04pm
The truth is one commits a crime we pay for their time.

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- SUNTZU
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:20pm
  They should be aloud
  The food ch.
  OWN .and what ever that crap playing at the
  local china buffet
  
  Report this comment
Thornyrose13
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:01pm
It seems simple to me. Prisoners can use the money they make, or get sent from home, to pay for a cable subscription, just like taxpayers have to pay for the subscriptions. Then they must have the “good behavior credits” to actually watch the television. No money, no credits, no tv.
The death penalty thing won’t work, it hasn’t worked historically. Our whole judicial system has worked to avoid the excesses of the past. Mind, those who are found guilty of capitol crimes should be executed in a timely manor. My personal preference is that the execution is automatically set 1 year and 1 day after the sentence is imposed. Enough time to to come up with legitimate appeals.

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bloodrage
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:57pm
Wait…, lemme see…, yeah…,MAYBE THIS IS ONE OF THE REASONS WHY THEY ARE BROKE!

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- SUNTZU
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:04pm
  You want bacon on that ?
  
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girlnurse
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:48pm
There should be a “prison channel” they can watch with classes, instruction, church, and such and thats it. Why can’t we the people get something as simple as this overturned to use the 2Mil to pay for pay for the guards or other tax payer dollars??? Here is a common sense cut we could make to all states saving potentially Billions of dollars across the US…and these are the kinds of things we should cut…no wonder our economy is in such dire straights,.

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- lovenfl3
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:01pm
  I agree, but the problem is that the government says we can’t cut anything. Even the cowboy poetry festival was life and death according to Harry Reid. 2 million on cable is just the beginning.
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXRZa_qKQWw
  
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- DadRocked
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:49pm
  GirlNurse – Throw in the Bloomberg Channel and you have my signature on that petition.
  
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- girlnurse
  Posted on December 6, 2012 at 2:09pm
  It’s like locally here in Ca. they try and make us think (& theyre successful with these libs) that the only places we can cut are teachers and firefighters OR raises taxes! Haha..the sheeple actually believe that nonsense and just voted in their own tax increase! I have got to get outta this place. The state worker system is so widespread you could cut entire departments for days and never cut anything we would miss! But then where would all these sheeple work? They have ruined the private sector and run out all small business. Its a mess all over and time for a serious “refreshing”.
  Bloomberg channel DADROCKED? ahh why not…These guys need to manage their hard earned drug money!
  
  Report this comment
Biblicalman
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:32pm
This is why the younger generation is the way it is. You commit a crime the tax payers picks up the tab on your lawyer to reduce the time for the crime you commited. Then the tax payers pay for the guards to babysit. YOu go in with a illness the tax payers picks up the medical treatment. You commit a crime and go to jail to get 3 square meals a day, the tax payers picks up the check. The lights go on at night the air condition if it’s and the heat if it’s cold. The tax payers pick up the bill. You commit a crime and you get to watch cable tv. The tax payers pick up the bill.

Hmm something doesn’t seem right here. I was taught if you commit a crime you will be punished not pampered. You wonder why young kids commit crimes? Hell some have it better in there than on the streets.

Go to russia and ask their criminals how is the jail life? Heck as chinas criminals.. If you ask any of the European countries and they will say it’s like taken a expensive vacation just without women in some cases.

If we don’t stop this soon 80% of our population will spend time there and 30% will pick up the bills. Commit a murder no worries , coomit rape you get special treatment. I say stop the babying and let them know what a punishment is all about.

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- 13thCousinOfTheAntiChrist
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:15pm
  I don’t know how things are ran in Illinois, but I know that in my state:
  
  Cable tv subscriptions are paid for out of an inmate benefit fund, which is not government-funded. Usually it receives monies from such things as inmates paychecks (for those lucky few able to work minimum-wage jobs), inmates phone calls and other activities. Think of it as a tax on inmates or their loved ones, not society at large.
  
  The only facilities offering air-conditioning in the inmates’ living units are those with windows which can not be opened. The heat is only turned on when absolutely necessary and is rarely very effective. Otherwise, in the summer inmates must survive as best they can using either small fans (5″) provided to indigent inmates or buy their own to cool themselves.
  
  Even with cable tv being available, inmates must still purchase the tv in the first place, often at significantly high prices. $150 for a 13″ color CRT TV, $225 for a 13″ flat screen.
  
  As to medical care provided in prison, I always compared it to socialized medicine. It is government funded and controlled after all, and to the lowest bidder. Same goes with the food, which in many states is also provided by the lowest bidder.
  
  I can appreciate the sentiment that prisoners should not have it easy. In most cases, they don’t. I am certain that life in prison is not the wonderland you believe it to be. However, if you honestly believe it is so great, I challenge you to spend some time there.
  
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- revelation2012
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:43pm
  makes one think about the ‘guests’ in ‘gitmo’ ,,,
  
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- dosdelgados
  Posted on December 6, 2012 at 4:47pm
  @revelation – the detainees each have a US soldier “runner” who does their bidding…goes to the library, gets their snacks, Game Stop, etc…
  
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progressiveslayer
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:26pm
This is just one state,according to Barry there’s 56 other states doing the same thing.

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- JACKTHETOAD
  Posted on December 6, 2012 at 4:54am
  Oh, c’mon Prog. They need to watch Jerry Springer so they can get ready to be released back into society… nothing like the ‘catch and release’ program.
  
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- Sorocialism
  Posted on December 6, 2012 at 7:04am
  Not Arizona…Sheriff Joe Arpiao took care of that issue. So, Barry is down to at least 54* other states.
  
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Chromo200
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:15pm
A model for the rest of the country to follow. This will bring more taxes to the treasury since more people are working. The new economic policies from D.C. Give out $1.10 to the masses, and get back $0.90 .. This way the Obamazombies will be see that more money to the treasury and more people working. Win WIn .. They don’t see the debt rising.

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rickc34
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:06pm
Cable tv no, old vhs tape of the little rascles and Andy Griffith yes but only if they are good boys and girls. TV is a privlidge .

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- grayling646
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:41pm
  Lemme guess…you were born before 19…….60?
  
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dealer@678
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:03pm
Just watched ” A Dolphins Tale” and Morgan Freeman (a black guy) took credit for a white guys invention to save the dolphins life. Look it up

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oldguy49
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:02pm
stupid is as stupid does

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lel2007
Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:02pm
The answer – Death Penalty.

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- neverending
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 10:17pm
  Yes and not 25 years later.
  
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- savagenatn
  Posted on December 5, 2012 at 11:17pm
  immediately…
  
  and the dept of corrections leadership should be forced to pay back every penny of this money themselves
  
  Report this comment

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