More than half of Sheridan Drug
Prison and Reentry Program parolees have been able to find and
retain jobs
More incarcerated veterans can now
get job skills, health services and housing opportunities through a
newly expanded program
[SEPT. 29, 2005]
SPRINGFIELD -- Delivering on his promise to fight
recidivism, increase public safety and reduce the cost of crime,
Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich announced Wednesday that juvenile recidivism
has dropped by 15 percent, the largest decline on record; more than
50 percent of Sheridan parolees have been able to find and retain
jobs; and more incarcerated veterans are receiving the necessary
skills and support to help them avoid the cycle of returning to
prison again and again for the same mistakes.
The governor announced that the
statewide juvenile parole technical violation rate has dropped by
more than 15 percent, the largest one-year decline on record,
bringing the number to its lowest rate since fiscal 2000. The
dramatic decline is the result of the Illinois Department of
Corrections Juvenile Division's efforts to improve social and
educational services for incarcerated youths. The programs target
young men and women who are at risk of going back to prison and
provide individualized drug treatments, counseling and education
services, and skills development to ease the transition back into
society.
"We must help young men and women who are in prison
develop the skills they need to stay away from drugs, find jobs,
rebuild their lives and become productive members of society when
they are released," the governor said. "Helping our youth get a
fresh start when they are released from prison is a key step towards
safer communities, lower recidivism rates and lower incarceration
costs. Our programs at several correctional centers around the state
are also helping other inmates and incarcerated veterans get the
resources they need to find a place in their communities and avoid
the very same mistakes that sent them to prison."
The governor has directed the Juvenile Division of the Department
of Corrections to aggressively find ways to improve juvenile
services and reduce recidivism. The early result of these efforts is
the largest decline in juvenile parole violations on record in
Illinois. From fiscal 2004 to fiscal 2005, the juvenile parole
technical violation rate dropped by 15.8 percent, helping to bring
the violation rate to its lowest level since fiscal 2000. Juveniles
are in technical violation of their parole when, among other things,
they do drugs, rejoin their former gangs, skip school or work, or
fail to check in with their parole officer.
The Department of Corrections successfully restructured all eight
juvenile facilities in the state to keep incarcerated young men and
women closer to their home areas. This helps the state promote
family support systems and better coordinate re-entry services. To
reduce the recidivism rate, this year the state launched two new
Juvenile Halfway Back programs, in Cook and St. Clair counties,
designed to provide a 10-14-day intervention program for youth at
risk of being reincarcerated because of difficulty readjusting to
their communities.
To enhance that programming, the department added a third
program, called the Parole Adjustment Center, at IYC-Joliet. This
program targets higher-risk youth for a more intensive 30-90-day
intervention. Under the program, youth are housed separately from
other inmates, assigned individual re-entry caseworkers and spend
each day preparing for their return home in addition to meeting
their education requirements.
In addition to developing best-practices programming for the
Juvenile Division, the Department of Corrections recently launched a
fully dedicated therapeutic community at IYC-Pere Marquette,
incorporating aspects of the nationally recognized Missouri Model
for juvenile girls. In this program, young girls are enrolled in
full-time drug treatment and cognitive skills development programs;
go through a personal growth, awareness and development process with
individual goal-setting; and are given expanded educational and
vocational opportunities before being transitioned into a re-entry
program once they return home.
The governor also announced that the Sheridan National Drug
Prison and Reentry Program has helped over half of program
participants find and maintain honest employment, making the program
more successful than comparison groups of offenders that exited
other prisons from across the state.
In recognizing that drugs are a leading cause of recidivism, the
governor opened the Sheridan National Drug Prison and Reentry
Program in January 2004. It aims to become the largest fully
dedicated state drug prison and re-entry program in the nation.
Today, drug-involved offenders at Sheridan undergo a program with
intensive drug treatment, cognitive skills development, vocational
and job preparation. The program begins in the prison setting and
follows them through their re-entry and back into their communities
under an extensive case management program with heightened parole
supervision.
To date, nearly 2,300 inmates have participated in the Sheridan
program, and 850 have been released back to their communities and on
to parole. The program has maintained a 50 percent lower
reincarceration rate than comparison groups. In addition, a larger
percentage of Sheridan program participants are becoming employed
and getting employed sooner, compared with other parolees. More than
54 percent of Sheridan parolees are verified to be currently
working, and most of them full time, while a 30 percent average of
other parolees self-report working at any given time during the
year.
"The Illinois Department of Corrections continues to take
prison-based treatment and re-entry management to the next level of
performance through its dedication to the successful re-entry of
inmates into society," said Roger E. Walker Jr., department
director.
The governor's Operation Spotlight program is also addressing
public safety through the expansion of the parole program in the
Department of Corrections. The new program enhances parole
supervision on the streets through increased monitoring and
graduated sanctions. The plan is to increase parole agent staffing
over a four-year period. All 35,000 parolees receive direct
supervision in the community.
The plan addresses short-term crime prevention by enabling agents
to more quickly determine which ex-offenders pose a risk to public
safety and should be reincarcerated. It also addresses long-term
crime prevention by enabling agents to identify which ex-offenders
require greater case management -- such as drug treatment, mental
health and job preparedness services -- to prevent re-offending.
Operation Spotlight has resulted in putting nearly 100 more
parole agents to work in communities, dramatically increased their
contacts with parolees, and resulted in new case management training
programs and specialized parole surveillance units, all designed to
help reduce crime and recidivism.
Additionally, the governor announced that an incarcerated
veterans program that since 2004 has helped dozens of vets at the
Sheridan Correctional Center find jobs, housing opportunities and
affordable health care when they get out of prison has now been
expanded to the correctional centers at Taylorville, Dixon, Shawnee
and Vienna.
The Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program is a multiagency
initiative operated by the Illinois departments of Corrections,
Veterans' Affairs and Employment Security and is aimed at cutting
down the recidivism rate among veterans. To date, nearly 300
incarcerated veterans have voluntarily participated in the program,
which is expected to further expand to all of the state's medium-
and minimum-security correctional centers.
About 18 months prior to release, the Department of Veterans'
Affairs offers inmates the opportunity to participate in the
program, which includes counseling on employment and health services
as well as assistance with housing arrangements and obtaining ID
cards.
The Illinois Department of Employment Security has a
comprehensive approach to helping veterans become job-ready.
Representatives from the department work one-on-one with
incarcerated and formerly incarcerated veterans through an intensive
service approach. Department staff members conduct employment
workshops in prison and continue assistance to their clients after
release, through job placement assistance. The department has a Web
page at
http://www.ides.state.il.us/vets/default.asp
on the array of services available to veterans, and there are also
links to other state services.
The recidivism rate in Illinois among veterans is 46.9 percent,
compared with the overall recidivism rate of 54.6 percent.
Currently, 1,400 inmates have self-reported statewide that they are
veterans.
"Once they have served their debt to society, we must help our
former soldiers get back on their feet," said Roy L. Dolgos,
director of the Illinois Department of Veterans' Affairs. "That's
why we go in and sit down with these individuals to tell them about
all of the benefits that they will be eligible for after they're
released."
"IDES is an enthusiastic change agent for incarcerated veterans
as they develop skills to find and maintain jobs," said Brenda A.
Russell, director of the Department of Employment Security. The
department initiated the veterans program at the Sheridan
Correctional Center last year and spearheaded training conducted at
the National Veterans Training Institute in Colorado last summer for
staff members working with incarcerated veterans.
"As an added focus on community re-entry, the IVTP serves to
support re-entry by accessing the strengths and needs of veteran
offenders and identifying programs and services that will enhance a
successful transition into society," said Walker, the state
corrections director. "These new initiatives and programs also serve
as cornerstones in reducing recidivism and increasing public
safety."
The new program is showing promise for the incarcerated veterans
who participate in it. One particular inmate, who entered the
Department of Corrections in early 2004 as a result of charges of
driving under the influence and driving with a revoked license, was
an early participant in the Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program
classes. He now is attending a community college, where he carries a
4.0 grade-point average, and is gainfully employed in the
manufacturing sector. He used the skills he learned through the
transition program to access programs that the Department of
Employment Security offers to veterans in the community. He also
learned about the Illinois Veterans Grant for college through the
transition program, which pays for his college tuition. In addition,
he has completed outpatient treatment in the community.
"The IVTP program has the potential to change lives," said Jim
Fagan, corrections counselor II at Peoria Adult Transition Center
and Incarcerated Veterans Transition Program coordinator for the
Department of Corrections. "This program builds upon incarcerated
veterans' strengths by teaching them about programs and services
they have earned. The idea is that by using what IDES teaches them
about job acquisition and retention and accessing their benefits as
taught by IDVA, incarcerated veterans can prepare for and be more
successful at free-world living."
Building on his commitment to reduce recidivism, Blajojevich
launched the Community Safety and Reentry Commission this year to
address recidivism and strengthen re-entry management. The
commission is chaired by the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Peoria State's
Attorney Kevin Lyons. The goal of the commission is to develop
recommendations that build on successful programs for the design of
a statewide re-entry system that targets the top 10 regions of the
state where the greatest number of ex-offenders are returning home
from prison. The commission has completed its mandate to conduct
hearings in these 10 state regions and is beginning the
report-drafting process that incorporates recommendations from
citizens across the state.
