Inmate Released Early Accused Of Murder

The Associated Press has learned the suspect in a Decatur murder is one of 1,600 Illinois inmates released early as part of the state's revamped good-behavior release program.

Joshua A. Jones is in the Macon County Jail after he was arrested on suspicion of murder for the fatal shooting of 22-year-old Marvin E. Perry on Aug. 17.

Jones served 19 months of a four-year sentence for drug-dealing and left prison May 3, five months early. 

Department of Corrections spokesman Tom Shaer says the rules were followed. It was the 28-year-old's first time in prison.

A top Illinois House member wants to make sure the Department of Corrections followed its own rules in granting Perry early release.

House Majority Leader Barbara Flynn Currie says “there's no fail-safe'' in releasing prison inmates. The Chicago Democrat says even non-violent former prisoners can pick up a gun after returning to the street.

A revised early release plan started last spring.

Gov. Pat Quinn shut down a similar one three years ago after hundreds of violent prisoners were quietly let go within days of arriving at prison.

Currie sponsored the 2012 legislative revamp of early release. She plans to look into the Jones case.