|
 Kewanee is one of three Life Skills Reentry Centers slated to
open in Illinois, as part of Governor Rauner’s plan to safely reduce
the prison population and restructure the state’s criminal justice
system. Kewanee will begin receiving offenders as early as February
16th.
“People deserve a second chance to get their lives back on track,”
said Governor Bruce Rauner. “The courses offered at the Life Skills
Reentry Center will provide these men with a stronger foundation and
set them up for success when they leave prison. This is a tremendous
step in the right direction in our criminal justice reform efforts.”
 “Nearly half of the people who leave our custody come back to us
within three years,” said IDOC Director John Baldwin. “This creates
a revolving door to prison which continually breaks men and women
down, tears families apart, and hits taxpayers’ pockets for much
more than what the state can afford. It is clear that what we’ve
been doing as an agency is not working and the Life Skills Reentry
Centers give us an opportunity to reverse that trend and get it
right.” The facility will offer educational, job readiness, and cognitive
behavior therapy courses to offenders who have one to four years
left on their sentence and qualify for placement at Kewanee. They
will also learn skills that help them readjust to society, like how
to manage a bank account, use the latest technology, and schedule
medical appointments.
One very unique aspect of the facility is that it will also house a
small number of offenders who have more than four years left on
their sentences. These offenders will be allowed to complete the
coursework then return to medium and maximum security facilities to
serve as peer educators, teaching the life skills concepts to
offenders who wouldn’t have an opportunity to participate in the
program otherwise.
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The Department first announced the Life Skills
Reentry initiative in June of 2016, after learning that the state’s
Department of Juvenile Justice would be shuttering the Kewanee
facility. Since that time, staff has been working to build the
concept and prepare the facility for launch.
From an operational perspective, the Department needed to assess the property,
make sure appropriate security mechanisms were in place, build a commissary and,
since the Department absorbed staff from the juvenile system, it was imperative
that they receive mental health training and learn how to communicate with adult
offenders. When it comes to programming, staff has been working to build an
evidence-based curriculum that changes the offender’s cognitive behavior and
prepares them for the workforce.
“We have to deinstitutionalize these men and help them see themselves as
productive citizens, not as convicts or inmates,” says Tony Williams, who has
been named warden at the Kewanee Life Skills Reentry Center. “They are
eventually going back to our communities. They will be living with us and
working with us and I want to give them the best opportunity to stay out of our
facilities.”
The Department is working to launch another Life Skills Reentry Center for males
at the former Illinois Youth Center in Murphsyboro and a female Life Skills
Reentry Center at Logan Correctional Center.
[Illinois Department of Corrections] |
