NCJ Number
156576
Date Published
1995
Length
138 pages
Annotation
This report presents statistical data and discussions of corrections trends and prison populations in Illinois during 1994, with emphasis on how sentencing patterns in the State have resulted in continued growth in the State's prison population during the past 18 years.
Abstract
As the director's introduction notes, the Illinois Department Corrections houses more than 37,600 inmates in institutions designed to hold no more than 22,900. Illinois is the only State that extensively double-cells its maximum- security institutions due to crowding. The truth in sentencing legislation enacted by the Illinois legislature will result in much longer prison terms for many inmates. In addition, the escalation in the number and length of prison sentences, especially for violent and forcible felonies, has resulted in the long-term accumulation of inmates in the system. Increases in convictions for lower-level drug law offenses has also increased the number of inmates. However, a crisis in crowding has been prevented through the enactment and use of programs such as meritorious and supplemental meritorious good conduct credits, earned time, electronic detention, and the Impact Incarceration Program. Tables and figures