NCJ Number
203467
Date Published
April 2003
Length
75 pages
Annotation
This report describes the process of prisoner reentry in Illinois and examines the characteristics of reentry prisoners, as well as the social and economic conditions of the communities in which the majority of prisoners enter.
Abstract
Information concerning Illinois’ reentry policies and programs is consolidated and an analysis of new data on Illinois prisoners who were released in 2001 is offered. Data were derived from the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), the Bureau of Justice Statistics, the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, and the Metro Chicago Information Center. Analysis of this data indicates that Illinois’ incarceration and reentry trends parallel trends at the national level. Illinois incarceration levels have increased over the past two decades due to three main factors: (1) an increase in the number of violent offenders incarcerated; (2) an increase in the number of drug offenders incarcerated; and (3) a significant increase in parole revocations of released prisoners. The number of prisoners released in Illinois during 2001, 30,068 prisoners, was more than two and half times the number of prisoners released in 1983. The IDOC offers a range of programs to prepare prisoners for community reentry, including education, substance abuse treatment, employment readiness, and mental health treatment. Additionally, since fiscal year 1991, the IDOC has required post-release prisoners under community supervision to participant in a release program called PreStart, which offers education, preparation, and planning for reentry. Community-based programming has also been enhanced in Illinois to help reduce the number of offenders returning to prison. Such programming includes Electronic Detection, Community Correctional Centers, Adult Transition Centers, and Day Reporting Centers. Next, the report examines the characteristics of reentry prisoners: 90 percent are male, 67 percent are Black, 48 percent are under the age of 31, over one-third served time for drug-related offenses, and more than 60 percent served less than 1 year in prison. The majority of released prisoners returned to the Chicago area, with many returning to six of the most economically and socially disadvantaged neighborhoods in the area. Finally, the report analyzed data from 2001, which indicate that most prisoners were released through nondiscretionary means in 2001, such as through mandatory release or expiration of their sentence. The likelihood of recidivism for Illinois offenders is high, with more than 50 percent of inmates having served prior prison sentences. Future research should address the gaps in servers for reentry offenders. Figures