CHICAGO – Illinois’ prisons are bursting at the seams and action is needed to reverse worsening violence and conditions for inmates and guards, a panel of experts warned in testimony Wednesday at a state legislative hearing.

The House Judiciary Committee session in Chicago focused on legislation that would revive a controversial program of early release for inmates who’ve demonstrated good behavior, but an aide to Gov. Pat Quinn said he will not reverse his suspension of that program in its current form.

Quinn shut down the early-release program after The Associated Press reported in 2009 that prison officials had implemented an unpublicized, accelerated version of it that was freeing criminals in as few as eight days.