NCJ Number
151499
Date Published
1994
Length
50 pages
Annotation
This report describes the progress of Illinois' Impact Incarceration Program (IIP) to date and profiles the offenders who have been recommended for the program.
Abstract
The IIP was originally opened at Dixon Springs in the Shawnee National Forest as a prison alternative for first- time offenders under 30 years old who would have previously been sent to prison for 5 years or less. Military aspects of the program are supplemented with basic education, substance abuse education and treatment, life-skills instruction, and prerelease preparation. The combination of physical training, drill, hard labor details, and the program services is intended to develop inmate self-esteem and self- concept. The first inmates entered IIP on October 15, 1990. On February 12, 1991, the first graduates began to return home. The Greene County IIP was opened on March 15, 1993, and graduated its first platoon on July 14, 1993. As of June 30, 1993, judges had referred 4,321 offenders to IIP. The Department of Corrections has approved 2,623. The typical IIP inmate is 21 years old, black, male, with an 11th grade education and a substance abuse history. He has been convicted of a property or drug offense with a 45-month sentence. Since February 12, 1991, 1,386 inmates have graduated from the IIP after serving 120 active days in the program. An analysis of the first 199 graduates showed that 17 percent were returned to prison for committing a new crime within 2 years after release. The percentage in a comparison group of parolees who did not participate in the IIP was 25 percent. During fiscal year 1993, the cost savings for the IIP totaled $1,972,585, saving over 229,000 days of incarceration for the 592 graduates. The total cost savings since the program's inception is $4,505,475. 7 tables, 4 figures, and appended supplementary information