Top state officials are being tight-lipped about budget cuts looming over the state’s prison system. Last week, Gov. Pat Quinn announced the Illinois Department of Corrections budget would be cut by $41.9 million as part of a $1.4 billion package of spending reductions throughout state government. News in The Pantagraph.

Although the cuts won’t result in layoffs or prison closures, it remains unclear how the reductions will be made as part of Quinn’s attempt to juggle the state’s massive financial problems.

In budget documents distributed last week, the administration said the cuts “will be addressed through better management of overtime costs and other operational efficiencies.”

Corrections’ spokeswoman Sharyn Elman did not provide details of what exactly that means.

In a written statement, Elman said, “The department is currently formulating its FY 2011 management plan with the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget.”

Overtime costs within the prison system have been steadily rising in recent years because of understaffing within the $1.1 billion agency.

In 2007, the department paid out nearly $20 million to prison guards in overtime costs. That figure jumped to an estimated $68 million last year. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union estimates it might be cheaper to simply hire more employees.

Elman said the agency is reviewing a directive issued by Quinn last week that calls for a series of belt-tightening maneuvers designed to keep the state afloat.

For example, Quinn wants cutbacks in vehicle use, employee travel and printing.

But, in the case of overtime, Quinn says reductions should not apply to employees who are in labor unions. Most of the overtime costs in the prison system are tied to unionized guards having to work double shifts because of understaffing.

Although Quinn had wanted lawmakers to approve a tax hike and allow him to borrow money to pay down a huge backlog of unpaid bills, they did neither.

On Tuesday, Quinn told reporters in Chicago he doesn’t expect lawmakers to take up budget issues until after the Nov. 2 election, leaving him to juggle a $13 billion deficit on his own.

“The General Assembly doesn’t have a lot of fortitude when it comes to raising revenue or making cuts,” Quinn said. “The General Assembly doesn’t want to do anything very challenging. They don’t want to put their fingerprints on any cuts.”

jchev Budgets, Economic Issues, Illinois

Administrators in the Illinois Department of Corrections are meeting with members of the Vera Institute of Justice with a goal of outlining a plan to address the issue of segregation in Illinois prisons.

The goal is to reduce prisoner isolation and to create a “best practices” model for IDOC’s segregation population at no cost to IDOC through the use of grant funding.
Vera is an independent, non-partisan, nonprofit center for justice policy and practice, with permanent offices in New York City and Washington, DC.

Director Michael P. Randle says “Public and Institutional safety are our top priorities. It can be a challenge with the large inmate population we are responsible for without using segregation units as a tool. We are looking at policies and procedures that will maintain our commitment to safety while reducing our reliance on these segregation units. Our goal is to address this issue thoughtfully and with strategies that have a proven success rate. That is why we are partnering with a national Institute over 45-years of experience to solving issues that impact the Justice System.”

Research from Mississippi and Ohio has shown that it is possible for states to save money by significantly reducing the number of prisoners in isolation while maintaining institutional and public safety, according to the Vera Institute of Justice.
Including the Menard Correctional Center, IDOC operates 27 prisons throughout Illinois in addition to work camps, boot camps and adult transition centers. The agency is responsible for operating a safe and secure prison system as well as enhancing prison-based treatment, prevention programs and the successful re-entry of inmates into society.

jchev Corrections Reform, Illinois

Watching the carbon footprint the population creates has become a responsibility for our governing bodies. But what about our prison facilities? According to its annual report, the Illinois Department of Corrections in total houses more than 45,000 inmates. This doesn’t include county jails or federal prisons in the state. But the number approximates a well-populated community. What, then, are prisons doing to reduce their carbon footprint? News, video and further information from Medhill Reports.

“One of our goals is to present a major rollout of the recycling and greening that we do through corrections,” Sharyn Elman, an Illinois Department of Corrections spokeswoman, said.

Throughout the state, the Department of Corrections has executed different plans to become more sustainable, along with individual efforts from the facilities as well. This includes work with water recycling, waste diversion, purchasing more environmentally responsible materials for every day use as well as efforts to cultivate more plant life through gardening programs.

“We aren’t working in a vacuum,” Elman said, “They send us ideas for greening and they work with us and we will pass down ideas on to other facilities as well”

Several prisons have started their own unique programs. Shawnee Correctional Center in downstate Vienna has taken action to remove Styrofoam from their dining halls and replaced it with reusable permaware and plastics.

Decatur Adult Transition Center created several green programs including its paint-recycling program. However, the Menard Correctional Center in Chester has done the most beyond all other facilities.

“In terms of the department, there are things like water conservation, using less electricity – that happens at all of the facilities,” Chris Grissom, superintendent of Illinois Correctional Industries said.

Menard is a maximum-security prison with an average of 3,500 inmates in the facility at a given time. Still, even with this giant responsibility, the management and Grissom make greening their jail a priority.

“It’s simple. What we do here is recycle, we use bio-diesel made out of vegetable oil for our vehicles, we use rain barrels,” he said. “We started recycling as a cost-saving measure, but it’s grown so that we are servicing the entire area of Randolph County. Our guys separate and process it and we sell as it a commodity. We are physically self-sufficient.”

The facility has taken its greening beyond normal expectations, including recycling glass for local breweries to reuse, making sure all shipping and packaging from the grounds is made from recycled materials.

“The main mission is vocational. We produce goods and services with offenders and we try to teach them a marketable skill,” Grissom said.

That is a similar sentiment shared in Chicago at the Cook County Jail, where the horticulture project is aimed at providing a second chance for the inmates.

Cook County Department of Corrections houses more than 9,000 inmates. In May, the facility opened a Greenhouse as a constructive use of time for inmates to learn a skill, as well as helping the Earth by putting plant life back into it.

“We had started construction in the fall,” Steve Patterson of the Cook County Department of Corrections said. “Concrete was donated from a local construction company. There was no taxpayer money involved; it was all from inmate welfare funds. And we used that to build the greenhouse.”

The program includes volunteers from the University of Illinois coming out to visit the prison and teach the inmates horticultural skills. When the program is completed, and all goes well, the inmates that pass become certified master gardeners.

In early May, work began with planting the seeds inside the greenhouse, “It was a new venture,” Patterson said, “we will give it a try and see how we do.”

The program, which initially started with 30 participants has now grown to 110 for the full calendar year.

“They are non-violent, mostly. They screwed up, but they’ve still got time to put their lives back together,” he said “They may not have many skills, but when you get out of here, they can say ‘I’m a certified master gardener.’ That will give you a shot of standing on your own feet.”

Several restaurants have jumped to partner with this program, among them the Publican, A La Carte and Charlie Trotter’s. “Last week, one of the chefs from Charlie Trotter’s grabbed a flat of basil and used it in the restaurant that night,” Patterson said.

Patterson said he realizes the need to being environmentally responsible considering the size and population of Cook County Jail. “It’s been described as a city within a city. The jail is bigger than the town I grew up in. It is a huge facility,” he said.

“One that we try doing in the area of the greenhouse, we want to make a green roof on one of our buildings out there. We’ve had some logistical issues, but we are still trying to pursue it,” Patterson said. “Our jail is 5 city blocks long and 3 wide, we would like to start greening some of those roofs.”

The prison also runs a robust recycling program after finding its former program of outsourcing recycling wasn’t bringing in the returns it had expected. “They were giving a projection of a return $48,000, it turned out to be $500. It was a question of: If we’re only getting $500, why not do it ourselves?”

So the prison started a recycling program among inmates, which in one year’s time yielded $72,000 in revenue and saved $170,000 in waste disposal. With the success of the program, the Cook County Jail now also handles recycling for the state’s attorney’s office and the Circuit Court clerk.

With each of these facilities, whether it be on a state, federal, or municipal level, those in charge agreed that it didn’t take much to start the change toward reducing their carbon footprint. “You can look all around and see opportunities to go green,” Patterson said.

“I don’t think it’s any different than any other city or town to take a step back and look. Using a fresh set of eyes. Why aren’t we doing this?”

jchev Environment and Energy, Illinois

The United States has entered into a comprehensive, cooperative agreement with Cook County, Ill., and the Cook County Sheriff that resolves previous findings of unconstitutional conditions at the Cook County Jail, the Justice Department announced today. The agreement resolves the United States’ investigation, which began in 2007 and concluded in 2008, that the jail systematically violated inmates’ constitutional rights by the use of excessive force by staff, the failure to protect inmates from harm by fellow inmates, inadequate medical and mental health care, and a lack of adequate fire safety and sanitation. Press release from the DOJ Office of Public Affairs.

The agreement was filed today together with a new federal lawsuit. The 60-page document, called an Agreed Order, is pending approval by a federal judge in U.S. District Court in Chicago. The jail is the nation’s largest single-site county jail, consisting of multiple buildings located on 96 acres on Chicago’s West Side, with an average daily population of more than 8,500 adult male and female inmates.

Under the agreement, Cook County and the sheriff will implement detailed remedial measures to ensure that jail inmates are safe and receive the services necessary to meet their constitutional rights, including hiring more than 600 additional correctional officers over the next year. Other highlights include comprehensive provisions aimed at changing the jail’s permissive culture surrounding the excessive use of force, including steps directed at proper investigation of excessive force allegations; as well as improving jail policies, procedures and practices to protect inmates from harm by providing adequate medical and mental health care, fire and suicide prevention, sanitation, and employee training.

Compliance with the agreement will be overseen by four mutually selected, independent monitors, who will be paid by the county and will exercise broad duties, respectively, over corrections, medical care, mental health care, and the physical plant. Beginning in four months, the monitors are required to issue status reports to the court every six months. The agreement lists eight separate substantive sections and terminates as to each of those sections when Cook County and the sheriff have achieved “substantial compliance” with the provisions regarding each of those sections and then maintain that compliance for 18 months. The agreement anticipates that the parties will achieve substantial compliance with all provisions within four years.

“It is a jurisdiction’s basic responsibility to protect those persons in its custody from harm and to uphold their constitutional rights,” said Thomas E. Perez, Assistant Attorney General for the Civil Rights Division. “We have worked cooperatively with Cook County officials to craft an agreement to ensure that the constitutional rights of Cook County Jail inmates are protected, and we commend Sheriff Dart, Cook County and the Cook County Department of Corrections for their willingness to work aggressively to remedy these problems.”

“We are pleased that with the cooperation of Sheriff Dart and the County, we have achieved a rigorous, comprehensive agreement that will remedy the unconstitutional conditions that were found at the Cook County Jail,” said Patrick J. Fitzgerald, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. “Inmates are entitled to conditions of confinement that pass constitutional muster.”

The Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office began investigating the jail in February 2007, pursuant to the Civil Rights of Institutionalized Persons Act (CRIPA), a federal civil rights law that authorizes the Attorney General to investigate and root out systemic abuses of persons confined in adult detention and correctional facilities. The investigation included two week-long on-site visits to the jail in 2007 and the review of documents dating back to January 2006. The United States’ findings were delivered in July 2008 to Cook County Board President Todd H. Stroger and Sheriff Thomas Dart and were made public later that same month.

According to the 2008 findings, three jail inmates committed suicide in the first four months of that year alone. The investigation further identified, since 2006, multiple preventable inmate deaths and a preventable amputation due to inadequate medical care, and separate incidents of unchecked inmate violence in 2006 that resulted in two inmate deaths. The 2008 findings also concluded that inmates were regularly subjected to inappropriate and excessive use of physical force by jail staff, even when inmates posed no threat to anyone’s safety or to the jail’s security.

The lawsuit filed today names as defendants: Cook County, Sheriff Dart, Board President Stroger and the Cook County Board of Commissioners, all in their official capacity. All corrections and security functions at the jail are administered by the sheriff through the Department of Corrections, while health care services are provided by Cermak Health Services of Cook County, a part of the Cook County Bureau of Health. According to the agreement, “throughout the course of the investigation, the United States received complete cooperation and access to all facilities and documents from the Cook County Board of Commissioners and the Cook County Sheriff’s Office.”

Under the agreement, the Department of Corrections is required to hire, train and put on duty at least 448 new corrections officers by Dec. 31, 2010, and an additional 174 new corrections officers by March 30, 2011. Other provisions require increased supervision of inmate housing areas, including regular inspections to prevent inmate possession of dangerous contraband. The county must also increase overhead video surveillance and recording cameras throughout the common areas of the jail.

Other terms include measures to appropriately identify the excessive use of force by staff, including investigations triggered by suspicious inmate injuries and inconsistent reports by staff, which must be written with sufficient detail. All injuries sustained by inmates and staff must be photographed, and disciplinary action must be proposed for correctional officers who either engage in excessive use of force or fail to accurately report any incidents involving use of force.

The county-operated Cermak Hospital, located at the jail, must develop policies and procedures to ensure constitutionally adequate medical and mental health care, including suicide prevention. Detailed provisions require sufficient levels of staffing, an adequate medication distribution system, unified medical and mental health records, and timely access to all levels of medical and mental health care, including specialists. Inmates with serious mental illness must be treated with therapy and other mental health programs, according to the agreement, and an inmate’s serious mental illness must be considered in determining the appropriateness of segregation and other disciplinary measures.

The United States has been represented by former Assistant U.S. Attorney Joan Laser, while Assistant U.S. Attorney Patrick Johnson, together with Kerry Krentler Dean, David Deutsch and Corey Sanders, Trial Attorneys in the Special Litigation Section of the Civil Rights Division, continue to represent the United States.

jchev IL Cook County, Jail and Prison Construction

What do you do when you catch a criminal? Conventional wisdom says you lock them up and hope prison scares them straight. But what if that doesn’t work, and what if that criminal is only 13 years old? Complete story in the Illinois Times.

That’s what Illinois lawmakers thought they were providing four years ago when they established the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice. It was to be a place, separate from the prison system, where kids gone wrong could be steered right. But, like Eve from Adam, IDJJ was created from the proverbial rib of the Illinois Department of Corrections, and though the two are now separate agencies, they are still entwined by their shared resources and attitudes toward corrections.

Legislators who pushed for a separate juvenile system hoped to move juvenile justice away from punishment toward a rehabilitative system that has shown promise in other states. The theory is that delinquent kids commit crimes because of exposure to violence, a lack of positive role models or a variety of other factors. Providing a safe, instructive and remedial environment is supposed to change their thinking and turn them into productive members of society, rather than hardening them into career criminals. So far, that dream hasn’t been realized, says Betsy Clarke, president of the Juvenile Justice Initiative, based in Springfield at 413 West Monroe St.

“Nearly four years following its creation, the Department of Juvenile Justice remains disturbingly far from embracing the treatment mission envisioned by the legislature,” Clarke told the Illinois House Appropriations Committee in an April 14 hearing.

She says many of the problems present in the juvenile justice system – understaffing, high recidivism, lack of training, inadequate mental health treatment, poor education and disproportionate minority incarceration – stem from the fact that the system is set up like a miniature version of IDOC, largely focused on punishment instead of rehabilitation. What was supposed to be a therapeutic environment has become a microcosm of the system it was meant to avoid.

IDJJ holds approximately 1,500 youth offenders between ages 13 and 20 in eight “youth centers” – essentially junior prisons – across the state. Young people can land in these prisons for practically any crime from theft to murder, and a disproportionate number of them are minorities, just like in the adult system. Once they are released, they often are sent back for violating parole, just like in the adult system. In fact, about half of the kids who leave IDJJ will return within three years, 40 percent of them for violating the conditions of their release – numbers strikingly similar to the adult system. Their post-release “aftercare” is not handled by parole officers trained in dealing with youth offenders, but by already overburdened officers from the adult correctional system. They are more accustomed to dealing with hardened criminals than with kids who might have made some bad choices.

Understaffing and Lack of Training
The John Howard Association of Illinois released a study of the juvenile justice system in January 2010 saying staffing levels in IDJJ are too low; counselors, administrators, teachers, clerics and even maintenance staff have dwindled due to retirements and transfers, hindering the effectiveness of youth prisons. Staff-to-youth ratios are 1/24 in some facilities and can reach 1/60 at night, the study says.

“It is difficult to imagine effecting change in a youth’s thinking and behavior with such high ratios,” the study says. “In order to impact youth behavior, one must be aware of the youth’s ongoing behaviors and respond appropriately. … This requires staff-to-resident ratios that are much smaller than in current practice.”

How much smaller? The study says a ratio of one adult to eight youth is most effective, “although 1 to 10 is do-able with well-trained staff.”

But training for IDJJ staff is sparse. Many of the staff in the juvenile justice department are transplants from the Department of Corrections, lacking training in youth rehabilitation and bringing with them the attitudes prevalent in the adult system.

“While the agency has recently utilized outside resources to train a few staff, the majority of staff members remain untrained in juvenile treatment policies and practices,” Betsy Clarke says. “The failure to train all staff in treatment-oriented approaches to youth corrections renders it impossible to fulfill the treatment mission of the new department.”

Education and Programming
While youth are incarcerated in Illinois, they are supposed to receive education so they don’t reenter the outside world lagging behind their peers in learning. Sometimes they receive that education, but often they don’t.

Clarke says at least one youth prison offers only half-day education, and the John Howard study says the department’s schools – District 428 – are funded at only one-third the minimum level of normal public schools. IDJJ is working on educational improvements to better train teachers, keep in contact with parents and create a uniform calendar for the whole district, the study says. But still nearly two-thirds of the department’s youth have educational disabilities, and 65 percent don’t even finish the eighth grade. Meanwhile, a lack of consistent educational programming keeps kids from developing real-world skills.

“Vocational programs are a key weakness of the system. They are not consistent through the facilities, often utilize outdated equipment and may not be training youth for jobs which exist within their home communities,” the study says.

Clarke says the lack of adequate programming undermines the reason for the department’s very existence.

“Without a comprehensive range of programming, youth are simply warehoused, and leave without adequate skills to reenter school or enter the job market,” she says.

Much more in the Illinois Times.

jchev Illinois, Juvenile Justice

After years of hard work, Williamson County will soon see the construction of a new county jail. “We’re very busy,” Williamson County Jail Administrator Gray Tyner said. Story from WorldNow and KFVS12.

At the start of the day on Tuesday, the Williamson County Jail housed 82 inmates.  However, Tyner said with the approach of summer that number would go up.

“We’ve always got people in it (the jail).  That takes a lot of wear and tear and abuse and everything we have here has not been replaced since 1985 or 1972,” Tyner said.

Originally, the jail was constructed with just 35 beds back in 1972. However, as the county grew, so did the need for jail space.  In 1985 more beds were added totaling 112 but Tyner said their working capacity is at 86 inmates.

Recently the Illinois Department of Corrections inspected the Williamson County Jail. An inspection report outlines nine areas of concern, which involve lack of space, overcrowding, and plumbing problems. If not solved, Tyner said the state could shut down the jail.

Williamson County Board Chairman Brent Gentry said the findings are no surprise, because they have been talking about the problems for years. On Monday, bond money needed to start construction on the new jail arrived in the county’s bank account.

“We have a long term plan for how to pay for the jail without raising any new taxes,” Gentry said.

Gentry said the plan includes the use of federal stimulus dollars and bonds, which will be paid off over the next 30 years. The whole project is expected to cost Williamson County 25 million dollars.

But county commissioner Ron Ellis said he is not sure how the county plans to pay the extra expenses of a 240-bed jail.

“We have never addressed the issues of where the money is going to come from, who’s going to be paying it, what fund it’s going to come from to cover those daily operation expense of this new jail,” Ellis said.

County commissioner Tracey Glenn argued, “We have sat down and estimated the expenses based on the square footage and the equipment and all of that.”  She added, “Yes, we’ve addressed the staffing issues.”

The county will also build a new parking lot to replace the one lost by the new jail.  The facility will be located between the old building and the new county administration offices.

Construction is expected to begin in the coming weeks and should be finished in about a year and a half.

jchev IL Williamson County, Jail and Prison Construction

Nearly 10 percent of the inmates in Illinois’ juvenile prisons have essentially completed their sentences — in some cases more than a year ago — but are stuck behind bars because they have no place to go, state records show. Reported in the Chicago Tribune.

Many of the youths are being held longer in one of the state’s eight juvenile prisons because officials cannot find an appropriate placement in a transitional living program or other kind of facility. Others are still in prison because officials found the homes of families or friends to be unacceptable, or because families simply refuse to take them back, according to records obtained under the Freedom of Information Act.

Notes in the records tell sad stories. “Youth has no family that will take him,” reads the comment in the case of one downstate boy who was sent to prison for aggravated robbery and was still there two months beyond his scheduled release.

“Placement denied 5X w/relatives,” reads the status report on another case. The names of the youths were redacted by state officials because of their age.

As of Tuesday, 104 of the 1,107 inmates in the state’s juvenile prisons, or 9.4 percent, were still behind bars even though their expected parole dates had passed.

The percentage has remained relatively steady since the department began tracking the figures in September 2005, though at times it has crept higher than 10 percent.

The issue underscores a persistent problem that Department of Juvenile Justice director Kurt Friedenauer has made a priority to tackle: a lack of aftercare for some of the state’s most troubled youths.

“Our goal is not to keep kids for the sake of keeping kids,” Friedenauer said. “Our goal is to prepare them for re-entry back to the community and for them to be successful there. But you have to have a (placement) to do that. … We simply do not have the financial resources to purchase the appropriate services.”

A youth’s administrative review date, or ARD, is a guideline for when he or she is expected to be approved for parole by the state Prisoner Review Board. But without a plan in place for where the youth will go upon release, youths either are held back from appearing before the board or are approved for parole pending a placement, according to Friedenauer.

Many youths kept beyond their ARD remain in prison for months. In some of the more extreme cases, youths have been held for close to a year, with a handful held for more than a year after their ARD. Two youths were held for 1,000 additional days, or nearly three years, according to the most recent figures available, which date to January.

The Department of Juvenile Justice is responsible for finding placements for nearly all the youths. A small number of cases involve wards of the state, and as a result the Department of Children and Family Services is responsible for finding homes for those youths.

Some cases appear complicated by family and friends whose homes are deemed unsuitable because of their own legal problems or because they do not have the means to accommodate a youth. The documents suggest that officials, over time, make several efforts to find homes for the youths, often approaching various relatives and friends to try to find an appropriate placement.

“Aunt denied by parole. Uncle has refused. Working on other (extended) family,” one document reads.

In another case, in which a 20-year-old was more than a year past his ARD, the comment reads: “Youth had approved parole site; mother had change of heart, site denied. Mother seeking other resources.”

Advocates for the youths and observers of the system say the shortage of community placements is real. But they also say the department could take better advantage of resources to shift the system from a focus on prison and punishment to a more community-rooted approach involving a range of facilities and services. It is cheaper, they say, to spend money on community facilities than on keeping kids behind bars.

“It’s completely unfair to keep these youths in prison simply because they don’t have the resources for what is supposed to come next,” said Benjamin Wolf, associate legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois.

“There’s just no excuse for that whatsoever,” said Elizabeth Clarke, president of the Illinois Juvenile Justice Initiative.

Friedenauer said most of the youths require a transitional living program, a place where they are housed and supervised but leave for school or work and also get treatment. The department’s goal, he said, is to have more places in the community for these youths. That, he said, would move inmates out of the department’s prisons at a quicker pace once they have completed treatment.

“One of the visions we have for the department is that we get to the point where we never have a youth in one of our facilities because there’s not an appropriate aftercare service for them,” Friedenauer said in an interview.

But the department, which was split from the Department of Corrections in 2006 and now is poised to be folded into the Department of Children and Family Services, has struggled to meet its goals, including developing transitional facilities for youths. Part of the problem has been neglect; the juvenile department has been underfunded. Funding for aftercare has been flat for four years, Friedenauer said.

The youths trapped in the system are, for the most part, held in four of the eight youth prisons. Many are sex offenders, whose placements often are more difficult and more expensive than for other inmates.

While in prison, these youths continue to get treatment and schooling. If they have earned a high school diploma or GED, they attend vocational classes. Nevertheless, Friedenauer said, the youths and staff become frustrated and risk backsliding in whatever progress the youths have made while incarcerated.

“It’s discouraging for us that we don’t have the ability to move these young people into a community setting,” said Friedenauer. “And certainly it’s discouraging for them. … We have to keep their hopes up.”

jchev Illinois, Juvenile Justice

The Department of Corrections would be required to post online the pictures and identification information of former inmates who receive early release if legislation introduced by state Sen. Kirk Dillard, R-Hinsdale, is signed into law. Reported in the Fox Valley Villages Sun.

“This is a commonsense practice that might have deterred some of the problems and abuses we saw occur with the Quinn administration’s flawed early release program,” Dillard said in a press release. “As the sponsor of Illinois’ Truth in Sentencing law, I was infuriated by the Quinn administration’s early release of prisoners who were violent criminals or involved in a murder.

“Some early release inmates served only days of their sentence in an Illinois penitentiary. That is a mockery of our system of law enforcement, and a mockery of their victims and their victims’ families.”

Senate Bill 3411 would require the DOC to place a recent picture of the inmate on its Web site within three days of the inmate’s release. The Web site would not only include the inmate’s name and age, but also his or her physical attributes, address, the offense that was committed and the county where the conviction took place.

Dillard said the DOC would be required to leave the information on the site until the inmate successfully completes the first year of his or her mandatory supervised release, or is returned to the custody of the department.

“Not only will making this information public bring peace of mind to concerned citizens, posting the information online could be a simple way to prevent someone from being seriously injured — or worse,” Dillard said.

The measure was unanimously approved by the Illinois Senate and must now win House approval.

The Bill is available online.

jchev Early Release, Illinois, Public Release

Acknowledging that teenagers in correctional facilities suffer from trauma and mental health issues and that the state has fallen short in helping them, Illinois officials announced Wednesday that the Department of Juvenile Justice will be folded into the Department of Children and Family Services. Story from the Chicago Tribune.

For more than three decades, the Illinois Department of Corrections had been responsible both for the state’s adult convicts and for juveniles serving time. In 2006, Illinois created a new Department of Juvenile Justice.

Kurt Friedenauer, the juvenile agency’s director, acknowledged earlier this year that staffing and funding troubles contributed to a decline in the quality of education at the prisons, putting the roughly 1,100 youths in custody at a disadvantage once they are released.

Toni Irving, a deputy chief of staff in Gov. Pat Quinn’s office, said Wednesday that the merger of the agencies is expected to save money, bring new expertise in winning federal grants and help build a much-needed program to support young inmates once they are released from state correctional facilities.

“There are a variety of needs that aren’t being met. DCFS has a youth focus that we haven’t really been able to achieve with the separation of the Department of Juvenile Justice,” Irving said. “The department has used the Department of Corrections for their shared services. … We are still relying on services that are adult-focused. This change will allow us to start relying on DCFS for shared services so there are people in place used to thinking what youths’ needs are.”

Cook County Public Guardian Robert Harris, whose office represents kids in juvenile court, said it often seemed unfair that children involved in the child protection side of juvenile court have access to services absent on the juvenile justice side.

“They are often confronted with the same issues — neglect, abuse, no family or parents involved in drugs,” Harris said. “It makes sense.”

Benjamin Wolf, associate legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois, said the children within DCFS and the Department of Juvenile Justice face similar challenges. But success for both agencies will depend on how much funding they can get, Wolf said. “We need to fund both adequately, and right now neither one is funded adequately,” he said.

jchev Illinois, Juvenile Justice

Anticipation for Mt. Vernon’s first re-entry program is building as the date of the event inches closer. “I’m excited,” said Paul Carlson, District 5 parole superintendent for the Illinois Department of Corrections. “This is going to be a really good thing for the offenders and the city of Mt. Vernon.” Reoirted in the Register-News.

The Mt. Vernon Southern Illinois Re-Entry Summit is scheduled for 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Feb. 9 at the Rolland W. Lewis Community Building at Veteran’s Memorial Park.

The event, the first of its kind in the King City area, is restricted to current state or federal detainees and certain citizens on parole or probation, Carlson said.

“This is a community expo of the necessary services to guide and assist the people of your community who never want to return to prison,” information states.

The event will be patrolled by parole officers and other officials in the building and parking lot to keep it secure, Carlson said.

Participants will be walked through a series of tables with volunteers from Southern Illinois University, he said. The detainees, parolees and others will have the opportunity to have an HIV test taken, speak with counselors about the issues they are facing or will be facing once they leave jail or prison.

“They’ll sit at a table with an SIU student and fill out a questionnaire about what they want, what they need,” Carlson said.

The participants will also get the opportunity to practice interview and resume skills, Carlson said.

Terri DeNeal, representative of UCAN of Southern Illinois, said the participants will also have an opportunity to get a state ID from the Secretary of State’s Office’s mobile unit. She said UCAN is funding the opportunity.

“The most important thing at this point is you can’t have any gaps,” DeNeal told participants at a planning meeting earlier this week. “I’m so tired of seeing people slip through the cracks. You know about something in this community that I don’t know about. All the puzzle pieces are in this community, and it just hasn’t been put together.”

DeNeal said the reason Mt. Vernon had been picked for the upcoming summit was because business owners and prominent members of the community had contacted her, and it was where she felt it needed to happen.

“I can’t say how important this is,” she said. “This is about public safety. Everyone who is in prison, this is probably not their first offense. That means there are multiple victims. We have to stop that. It’s about getting them on the right track.”

Carlson cited the example of a young person he met through his job who he saw later after the person had gotten out of prison.

“He was studying at SIU,” Carlson said. “When he saw me, he said, ‘The things you say are true. I got a job. I’m participating in school. I have never, ever felt this way about myself.’”

Summit organizers are still looking for businesses and services to participate in the event, especially community churches. To help, call Terri DeNeal at the UCAN office at 618-942-4710 or e-mail sirgmtvernon@aol.com.

jchev IL Jefferson County, Inmate Programs, Re-Entry

Prosecuting attorneys would receive advance warning about the early release of prison inmates under legislation a House committee approved Monday. News reported in the Daily Herald.

As proposed, the Department of Corrections would have to notify the relevant state’s attorneys at least 14 days before an inmate could be released early. State law presently proscribes only that state’s attorneys get “reasonable” notice before an inmate is let out before the scheduled date.

“And it’s my understanding that that led to situations where in fact, 24 hours, 12 hours (or) instantaneous with the release, that these offices were being notified,” said state Rep. Emily McAsey, a Lockport Democrat.

The amendment approved Monday comes just weeks after Gov. Pat Quinn publicly apologized for a secret, money-saving measure that allowed the early release of more than 1,700 inmates – several of whom already are charged with crimes committed after they were let go.

McAsey said prosecutors in the county where the crime occurred and where the prisoner is released, if different, should be notified.

“So we may have a situation where the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office prosecuted the case, the inmate went into the Department of Corrections and is serving time in Will County, and in some situations based upon the legislation, the Will County State’s Attorneys Office also would be given notice,” McAsey said.

The amendment approved Monday also will require inmates to serve at least 60 days in the state correctional system before review for early release.

State Rep. Jim Sacia, a Republican from Pecatonica, said he would like to see another addition that would require victims, too, be notified.

The proposal now heads to the full House.

jchev Early Release, Illinois

The Ryan and Mound correctional facilities, on Detroit’s east side, once housed thousands of prisoners bound for lonely, unassisted returns to the city’s streets. Full story and photos in The Detroit Free Press.

But now they’re being used as temporary re-entry sites for nearly 2,000 prisoners. This is one of the cornerstones of the efforts by Gov. Jennifer Granholm and Corrections Director Patricia Caruso to reduce the size of Michigan’s prison system.

Inmates get help re-establishing productive lives. They get structure that they often won’t find on their own. Often through video conferencing, prisoners near release meet with parole agents and community housing, employment and other agencies to help line up jobs and places to stay.

They also get classes that work on boosting their coping skills. At a “Thinking for Change” class at Ryan in early December, two MDOC facilitators — Ronald Irby and Jeffrey Allison — challenged 20 prisoners to take responsibility and govern thoughts and feelings that could lead them back to crime.

“Prison has your body — it’s up to you not to give it your mind,” Irby told one inmate who said prison had turned him into an animal. “If you’re looking for a reason to resist change, it’s easy to find one.”

Inmate Terry Stanfield, 25, of Detroit, told a Free Press editorial writer that attitude determines success, even more than employment. Some inmates, he said, would still rather sell drugs than accept menial work.

“It’s about ethics and morality,” said Stanfield, who finished a two-year sentence for home invasion and was paroled on Dec. 22. “I used to rationalize what I did.”

A small share of parolees will get temporary jobs through Michigan Prisoner Re-Entry Initiative contracts with nonprofits such as Motor City Blight Busters, which employs more than 60 parolees for 90 days. Working with electricians, plumbers and carpenters, parolees demolish and rebuild vacant and blighted properties, mostly in northwest Detroit. They learn job skills, secure employment references, and earn $8 to $12 an hour. About 25% of them later get permanent jobs with Blight Buster contractors, said President John George.

Longer prison stays and higher costs
The state will need more of this kind of effort as prison reductions continue.

The state’s 36 prisons now hold roughly 46,400 inmates — the fewest since 2001 — after peaking at 51,554 in March 2007. Caruso expects the population to fall below 45,000 by year’s end.

In the past, longer prison stays had pushed corrections costs higher. Michigan inmates have been serving, on average, 127% of their court-ordered minimum sentences — well beyond other states that offer parole, reports the Council of State Governments Justice Center. Six years ago, Michigan prisons held an outlandish 17,000 inmates — more than a third of the population — who were parole-eligible. Still, a recent study by the Citizens Alliance on Prisons and Public Spending found no correlation between time served and the likelihood of reoffending.

“Keeping thousands of people locked up longer than was needed for public safety has been a big cause of Michigan’s prison growth,” said CAPPS Executive Director Barbara Levine.

Steps to save state money
Granholm and Caruso have gotten the ball rolling, with positive results. Now the Legislature has got to help continue this process, with several steps:

• Restore good-time credits. A House bill would reduce a typical sentence by roughly 15%, lowering Michigan’s prison population by 6,000 and saving the department $107 million a year. It would provide incentives for good behavior and bring Michigan’s system in line with the rest of the country. Michigan is one of only a handful of states that haven’t adopted federal standards for truth-in-sentencing, making inmates eligible for parole after serving 85% of their sentence.
• Approve new sentencing guidelines to divert hundreds of offenders from prison to lower-cost community corrections programs such as drug courts, electronic tethers, community service and jails. Such programs would save tens of millions of dollars a year, even after reimbursing counties for community-based alternatives.
• Repeal Michigan’s notorious juvenile lifer law, which has rightly drawn fire from human rights groups worldwide. The law has forced judges to give kids as young as 14 the maximum adult penalty of life without parole. More than 300 Michigan inmates are serving such sentences. Giving them a shot at parole would likely save millions of dollars.
• Release chronically ill and dying inmates, saving the state millions of dollars a year in health care costs. The commutation and parole process for terminally ill inmates is far too cumbersome. About a dozen terminally ill inmates, recommended for commutations by the governor’s Executive Clemency Advisory Council, have died before release. In cases in which inmates have a year or less to live, the state ought to waive requirements for a public hearing.
• Create a temporary and separate parole board to review a backlog of hundreds of parolable lifer cases. In the class-action Kenneth Foster-Bey case, U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani, in 2007, declared that the constitutional rights of more than 1,000 inmates serving life sentences with the possibility of parole have been violated since state parole policies toughened in 1992.
• Ensure that releases and paroles are not delayed because prisoners could not take programs stipulated by the Parole Board, such as the assaultive offenders program. Providing adequate programs is far cheaper than delaying the release of offenders, at a cost to the state of $35,000 a year each.
• Establish an innocence commission to recommend ways to reduce miscarriages of justice and examine cases of probable wrongful conviction. Wrongful convictions are an especially big problem in Michigan because of the state’s abysmal public defender system. Dozens, maybe hundreds, of Michigan inmates have compelling evidence of innocence, without an effective remedy, including Frederick Freeman, Darrell A. Siggers and Darryl Jamual Woods.

There’s no one right way to determine the ideal size of the state prison system. In the early 1980s, when crime rates and population were similar to today’s, Michigan prisons held fewer than 15,000 people — less than a third of the current count. Bringing Michigan’s incarceration rate down to those of surrounding states would lower the prison population to 35,000.

Either way, creating a cost-effective, safe and humane corrections system that protects the public, sends less-dangerous offenders to community alternatives, treats people with substance abuse and mental health problems, and returns offenders to society with adequate employment and coping skills will take substantial legal and policy changes.

For legislators and a term-limited governor, reforming Michigan’s criminal justice system ought to become the centerpiece of restructuring state government this year.

jchev Illinois, Re-Entry

No one ever said life was easy behind bars, but it has become a bit more stressful for inmates in the Macomb County Jail. Story reported in the Free Press.

After mold was spotted in the jail’s 50-year-old freezers last month, inmates have been eating mostly bologna and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

Gone are the warm, balanced meals.

And with no money to replace the freezers, the sandwich diets may continue through early next year, officials from the sheriff’s office said this morning.

County officials warned commissioners as early as 2005 that the freezers needed to be replaced.

Officials plan to ask commissioners for emergency funds next month to buy new refrigerators.

jchev Food Services, Illinois

Reporters could see but couldn’t talk to Tamms Correctional Center inmate Faygie Fields as he bounced on his toes, smiled and waved wildly from behind a perforated steel door Thursday. Report, with video tour, on the Belleville News-Democrat.

Illinois Department of Corrections Director Michael Randle opened the prison to the media as part of his 10-point reform plan for Tamms, and he escorted about 10 reporters on a tour guided by Warden Yolande Johnson.

Fields, a diagnosed paranoid schizophrenic, was included in the News-Democrat series Trapped in Tamms. Fields battled for six years to be moved from the disciplinary unit to the prison’s mental health or “special treatment” unit — JPod. He remains alone in a cell for 23 hours a day, but receives counseling.

Fields was not among the four inmates with whom reporters were allowed to talk after the tour. The prison denied a reporter’s request to talk with others.

In the special treatment unit, five inmates sat inside individual Plexiglas booths in a therapy room, watching a morning television talk show. A staff member described playing cards with the inmates. Each has his own deck of cards and deals himself a hand, then they see who has the best hand.

“We play chess, too,” one inmate said through the Plexiglas. “We shout out the numbers to each other, then move them on our boards.”

The special treatment unit houses 12 inmates, but one was out of the prison Thursday awaiting a court hearing, Johnson said. The inmates attend group therapy from their booths, meet with a psychiatrist every two weeks, a psychologist every week and with mental health staff every day, Randle said.

Inmates also are allowed recreation alone in outdoor cages that measure 18 feet, 6 inches by 9 feet. They shower at least once a week.

Demetrious Papademetriou, another inmate on the prison’s special treatment unit who killed his cellmate before coming to Tamms, told reporters during a group interview in the prison’s courtroom that he felt he was being helped at Tamms. He said he spends his days reading books by self-help guru Tony Robbins and attending therapy sessions.

Brian Nelson, a 45-year-old who was convicted of armed robbery, murder, escape and aggravated battery, is one of 38 men marked for transfer from Tamms, where he has been in solitary confinement for more than 10 years. Ten inmates have been transferred since September after Randle’s review of the supermax.

“It’s been 12 years of sitting in an empty, gray cave,” said Nelson, who then described receiving prostate examinations while guards looked on. “I’m afraid of people. I’m afraid of getting a cellmate.”

He is scheduled for release in 2011.

Nelson has developed quirks since he’s been at Tamms, he said, such as pacing the cell at 3 a.m. — a habit that likely would annoy a cellmate.

“They say that we are the rottenest of the rotten,” Nelson said. “The worst of the worst, but it ain’t true.”

Of the 247 inmates held at Tamms as of June 30, according to the Trapped In Tamms series, 138 had not been convicted of a crime after entering the prison system. Of the 109 inmates who had been convicted of crimes in prison, 55 committed acts such as throwing feces and urine, struggling with guards or carrying homemade weapons — acts that did not result in serious injury and could be attributed to mental illness or a need for self-protection.

“We are trying to keep safe, secure environments in our facilities,” Randle said. “They have done something to get here. In some cases, they have done something so serious they can’t make it in general population.”

The prison boasts the highest mental-health-staff-to-inmate ratio in the state, Randle said, providing mental health treatment to any of 226 inmates who might require it and determining whether an inmate is mentally healthy enough for Tamms. Critics, however, including members of the Chicago-based Tamms Ten Year Committee, contend that many Tamms inmates held in the disciplinary section are seriously mentally ill.

When asked whether any mentally ill person should be in solitary confinement, Randle replied, “There are different levels of mental illness, and that decision is being made by a clinician.”

Steve Wuebbles, who is serving a life sentence for murdering his brother-in-law in 1992 in Trenton, then stabbing a guard at another prison, told reporters he would stay in Tamms for the rest of his life.

Flanked by two guards, he was led from the room, back to the elevated security unit.

“I can never deal with a cellie now. One of us is going to die. Either he is going to kill me or I will kill him,” Wuebbles said. “After all this isolation, I know that I can never deal with a person in that close of an environment ever again.”

As Wuebbles stood to leave, he looked at reporters and asked, “Do you believe me? I don’t have any reason to lie to you.”

jchev Illinois, Maximum Security

Gov. Quinn Tuesday defended his plan to release up to 1,000 inmates, a step that begins this week and eventually could save the cash-strapped state $5 million a year. As reported in the Chicago Sun Times.

By the end of this week, 62 non-violent offenders who are within a year of their scheduled release dates will be freed in the first wave of Quinn’s early-release initiative.

“We’re going to do this because we do have financial challenges. But at the same time, we’re going to do it in a way that always protects the public,” Quinn said during an appearance in Chicago to announce the opening of a new veterans home.

Quinn said those released will be under “constant electronic monitoring” while on parole, and the governor expressed optimism that none of those being set free early will be a threat to society.

“Hopefully they learned their lessons in jail and won’t repeat their crimes,” Quinn told reporters.

His administration refused to divulge the names of those in the first wave of early releases.

Januari Smith, a spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Corrections, did not offer a basis under the state Freedom of Information Act to justify withholding the inmates’ identities.

“At this time it’s not being released through my office,” said Smith, who added that local law enforcement agencies have been notified who is being released early.

The administration has said that drug offenders and inmates convicted of non-violent property crimes are among those being set free early. Those with homicide or sex offense convictions are not eligible for early release under Quinn’s plan.

Those sent home early will be required to wear electronic-monitoring ankle bracelets and be assigned to parole agents, with whom they will have to meet at least once a month.

jchev Budgets, Early Release, IL Chicago

Illinois Department of Corrections Director Michael Randle knows the risks of and concerns with letting about 1,000 inmates walk early out of state prisons in the next few weeks. But for Randle, who took over the prison system this summer, it’s the start of a long process of trying to balance cutting costs and taking in only those offenders who really need to be locked up – without risking public safety. Reported by The Journal Star.

“We’ve been very thoughtful and very cautious in this whole process,” Randle told The State Journal-Register’s editorial board Wednesday in a meeting on his early release plan. Within the next month, about 1,000 nonviolent offenders will be put on electronic monitoring, tracked at all times and required to be in close contact with parole agents. Randle says he understands the apprehension from the public and criticism from prison workers and parole workers about safety risks. And he says he can’t promise one of those offenders won’t commit another crime. But he stresses that every precaution is being taken to avoid that. The agency could have let thousands of inmates go early under state law, Randle says, but limited it to 1,000 with more safeguards. No violent criminals or those who have committed crimes against people or parole violations will go home early.

The move will help the department save about $5 million a year, although savings this year will be less because it’s being done a few months into the budget year and there’s a cost to implementing the electronic monitoring system. Randle hopes the process gets lawmakers, judges and prison officials thinking harder about who really needs to be locked away. Right now, he says, 47 percent of the prison population spends less than six months in prison, with jail time served and other credits cutting down sentences. Corrections doesn’t have the time to get those nonviolent drug offenders into treatment plans, so they’re better off being treated locally, he said. Randle pointed to a new law approved earlier this year that puts more focus on boosting local treatment, evaluation and education. “We think they could be better managed,” Randle said. “You get better outcomes, and it’s cheaper to deal with those offenders locally.”

Randle, who came to Illinois from the Ohio system, said he’s getting used to dealing with budget issues facing his department, especially overtime that cost the agency $60 million last year. The director says three new classes of cadets will help ease that burden, as will a layoffs plan that could fill 350 positions in prisons with the highest overtime costs through transfers. That layoffs plan is on hold after a southern Illinois judge last month blocked it, and Gov. Pat Quinn’s administration plans to appeal that ruling. “Overtime is and will continue to be a major challenge for this department,” Randle said.

Randle says Quinn’s office has given the latitude needed to implement new policies and isn’t interfering with his work, although he says they work closely together on budget and other issues. Randle expects state senators will confirm him in the role in their fall veto session that starts next week. “Everybody seems to be comfortable with how things are going in the agency,” Randle said.

Randle says he’s also starting work on a long-range plan that could lead to prison closures by reducing crime and the need for 28 state prisons. He says that will take patience and buy-in from policymakers and the communities affected – something that can’t be done in a quick period of time. He said recent efforts under the previous administration of ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich to close Stateville and Pontiac prisons were bound to cause an uproar because of the quick timing. “I think people will get it,” Randle said. “You’ve just got to give them time.”

jakking Early Release, Economic Issues, Illinois

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn is planning to release 1,000 inmates from prisons across Illinois the next several months in an effort to save money, according to the Chicago Tribune.

An Illinois Department of Corrections prisons spokeswoman said only “low-level, non-violent” offenders who are in the last year of their sentence will qualify for early release and will be fitted with electronic monitoring devices. Officials with the corrections agency and the Quinn administration declined to provide specifics after announcing the plan late this afternoon. Corrections spokeswoman Januari Smith said the bulk of those to be released and placed on supervised parole will be drug and property crime offenders. The move is estimated to save the agency about $5 million a year, Smith said, though Quinn is giving corrections an extra $2 million to monitor those who are released. The release of prisoners is another symptom of the state’s dire fiscal situation, and is coupled with Quinn’s plan to layoff approximately 1,000 prison workers.

The department will layoff 419 workers effective at month’s end. Meanwhile, Quinn gave the department an extra $2 million to help divert offenders from state prisons. That money will go toward drug treatment and other community-based alternatives in an effort to reduce the number of people who receive short prison sentences. Prison officials say 47 percent of offenders released from custody each year serve six months or less behind bars. Another $2 million will be used to monitor the 1,000 inmates facing release, including assigning each a parole officer and providing drug treatment and other rehabilitative programs. In a statement, Quinn said the changes are focused on “protecting the public while also modernizing and improving the state’s correctional system” …

Prison reform advocates said releasing non-violent offenders close to the end of their sentences will free up valuable resources to allow prison officials to focus on rehabilitative programming for those with longer sentences, and in turn reduce the rate of inmates who often return to jail. “We should be using tax dollars to wisely to be locking people up who present a physical threat to the community,” said Hanke Gratteau, executive director of the John Howard Association and a former Tribune managing editor. “But to just lock people up to punish them without programming doesn’t make any sense. If you take these people out of the system, you free up money to focus on helping people get jobs, go to school and set them on a better path.”

The money comes out of a $1.2 billion discretionary fund lawmakers gave Quinn to use as he sees fit to boost funding for state agencies. Quinn also tapped his discretionary fund earlier this week to help restore $16 million in funding for probation services after they were slashed by 44 percent – from $65.1 million last year to $36.5 million this year. The additional money came after Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Fitzgerald warned the budget cuts were threatening public safety.

The state currently houses approximately 46,000 prisoners.

jakking Budgets, Early Release, Economic Issues, Illinois

This report from the Courier News.

Jennifer Gullang sometimes has to cover a lot of ground in the course of a day’s work. “Every day is completely different,” she said. “Some days I can drive 120 miles; some days I can only drive 50. It just depends on the area I’m in and how many people I have to see.” As an electronic monitoring officer with Kane County IL Probation Department, she supervises about 65 cases, making an average of 20 to 25 home visits each day to defendants out on bond awaiting trial. “Everything with this job is time management,” Gullang said. “You only have 7.5 hours to do everything that you need to get done, and it’s really about prioritizing what is the most important.”

She is one of 14 officers assigned to keep tabs on the more than 2,700 adults currently serving probation in the county, according to Kane County Director of Probation Mary Hyatt. She said those numbers already reflect more than what would be considered ideal. “We are actually under what we need now,” Hyatt said of the department’s staffing. “Our adult probation officers have an average of about 197 adult offenders per officer, and you really shouldn’t have more than 100 to 125.” A similar problem can be found in the county’s supervision of juvenile offenders, as a staff of 14 monitors more than 1,400, or an average of about 102 cases per officer. “That’s way high,” Hyatt said. “Best practice is about 40 to 45 juveniles (per officer).”

The problem is compounded, according to Hyatt, with a projected shortfall of about $2.5 million in funding from the Illinois Supreme Court. That could mean significant cuts to some of the department’s more specialized programs and services. Hyatt said the department’s overall budget saw a decrease of more than $545,000 in 2009 compared to 2008. The represents about a 6 percent reduction, with even deeper cuts expected for 2010.In anticipation of a funding decline, Hyatt said her department already had been directed by the county to reduce its budget, with no expectation of receiving increases for 2010. “Our officers have more (cases) than they should have right now,” she said. “If, with budget cuts, we end up having to cut back on staff, we’ll have to focus all of our resources on the most severe cases we have and the basic services.”

Cuts would be made to programs such as electronic home monitoring, which allows the county to monitor offenders through the use of electronic tracking equipment. Also in jeopardy of being cut is the department’s pretrial release program, which conducts background investigations on recently jailed offenders to determine which ones are least likely to commit a crime if allowed to be released until they appear in court. “We’re going to have to take a look at every program that we have,” Hyatt said. Other specialized programs possibly affected include the county’s sex offender unit, which currently monitors about 213 people; and the domestic violence unit, which supervises offenders and works with victims to ensure their safety and help provide access to services.

Hyatt said cuts to, or the elimination of, these types of programs would result in most cases being reviewed within the standard probation system, which Hyatt said would make it difficult to meet state standards involving the amount of time spent reviewing and monitoring an individual case. “We are required (by the state) to do specific assessments on people and that we see them at a certain level,” she said. “And when you’re talking about raising caseloads to a totally untenable level, those kinds of mandates can’t be met.”

The effects of reductions in probation services can be far-reaching, according David E. Olson, chairman of the Loyola University Criminal Justice Department, who said the long-term costs will most likely outweigh short-term budget savings.”Having probation in place reduces crime,” he said. “So having less probation would likely lead to more crime.” Olson said cuts to specialized programs in which offenders have access to treatment for drug abuse, sex abuse or domestic violence almost ensures the likelihood of repeat offenses, inevitably leading to an increase in the level of incarceration. “It’s an unfortunate situation because probation is a very inexpensive way to try to stave off what could be an individual who imposes an extremely enormous financial burden to society if they continue with criminal activity,” he said.

jakking Bail, Budgets, Community Corrections, Economic Issues, Electronic Monitoring, IL Kane County, Illinois, Pre-Trial

The national recession is taking its toll on what had been one of the fastest-growing areas of state government spending: prisons. Even though state corrections budgets have ballooned in the past two decades amid a surging U.S. prison population, at least 23 states slashed funding for prisons this year, according to a new survey by the nonpartisan Vera Institute of Justice, a research organization based in New York. Thirty-three states responded to the survey, paid for by The Pew Charitable Trusts.  This story is from the Pew publication, Stateline.Org.

A $1 billion cost-cutting plan announced last week by Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn (D) will translate into layoffs for more than a thousand state prison workers. In Oregon, a voter-approved plan to hand longer prison sentences to those who commit property crimes was delayed by state lawmakers who said they could not pay for it. Tennessee’s department of corrections has sought to save money by offering inmates less milk and meat in their daily meals. And in Kansas — which has received national attention in recent years for shifting resources from locking up prisoners to rehabilitating them — the state eliminated 85 percent of the slots in its substance-abuse treatment program for inmates, citing budget constraints.

Six states — Georgia, Idaho, Kansas, Montana, Nebraska and Washington — cut funding for corrections by more than 10 percent from last year’s levels, according to the study. Kansas saw the biggest recorded decrease, spending 22 percent less than it did last year.

Corrections is the fifth-largest area of state spending after Medicaid, secondary education, higher education and transportation. State spending on prisons has swelled as the nation’s jail and prison population has climbed to 2.3 million people, or about one in every 100 adults. But grim budget realities are forcing state lawmakers’ hand.

According to the Vera survey, many states are wringing savings from their correctional systems by trying to reduce the huge operational costs of running prisons — including by laying off workers, freezing their wages or cutting services to inmates. They also are exploring new ways to reduce recidivism and achieve long-term savings, in some cases easing sanctions on “technical violators” who break conditions of their parole and frequently are sent back to prison. Some states, including Colorado and Oregon, are allowing more prisoners to reduce their prison sentences through “earned-time credits” for good behavior and other forms of early release.

Some of the cost-cutting moves — using videoconferencing to avoid physically transporting inmates for court appearances, for example, and cutting back on inmates’ meal offerings — have targeted the basics of daily prison life and reaped relatively modest savings. But other changes will save tens of millions of dollars and have not come without political fights.

According to Stateline.org’s annual review of states’ legislative sessions, at least seven states — Colorado, Kansas, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina and Washington — this year decided to close prisons. In some states, those plans touched off resistance among prison unions and in hard-hit communities anxious about losing even more jobs.   New York’s prison workers’ union earlier this year accused the administration of Gov. David Paterson (D) of creating “the most dangerous conditions ever” for correctional officers by closing 10 prisons and packing inmates into other facilities. In Michigan, which has the nation’s highest unemployment rate, Gov. Jennifer Granholm (D) is trying to avoid closing some prisons — and laying off prison guards — by accepting inmates from California’s teeming system. Some state officials have backed the idea of housing detainees from Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

Early releases also have caused alarm, particularly in California, where a federal panel of three judges last week ordered the state to free more than 40,000 inmates — or about 27 percent of its prison population — within the next two years to ease dangerous overcrowding. Attorney General Jerry Brown (D), who is widely expected to run for governor next year, attacked the decision and could appeal it to the U.S. Supreme Court. The early release of thousands of inmates also is being considered in Illinois.   While some criminal justice advocates contend that early releases and other cost-cutting moves could endanger public safety, others say states have not gone far enough in cutting inmate numbers.

Some advocates say state lawmakers have avoided what they see as the “elephant in the room” — tough sentencing policies that have put many low-level offenders behind bars for longer and been a major factor behind the explosive growth in the nation’s prison population since the 1970s, when many of the laws were passed. The federal panel that ruled on California’s prison overcrowding cited sentencing laws as a factor behind the Golden State’s huge prison population.  While New York this year revised its drug sentencing laws to give judges more discretion to keep offenders out of jail, other high-profile sentencing changes in the states have been far more limited in their scope. Texas, for instance, eliminated life without parole for juveniles, a penalty that currently affects only seven inmates. New Mexico abolished capital punishment, but had only two men on death row when the bill was signed into law in March.

Washington state’s legislative session this year was “completely upside down in terms of criminal justice policy,” said state Rep. Roger Goodman (D), vice chair of the House Judiciary Committee. Goodman said lawmakers cut funding for the wrong programs — such as housing and other transitional services that can help ex-inmates stay out of trouble — and refused to make substantial changes to the sentencing policies that he said have put too many nonviolent and drug-addicted people in prison in the first place. Goodman explained lawmakers’ distaste for making sentencing changes this way: “There aren’t enough political points to be gained by taking this issue on. There are political points to be gained by attacking it.”

While broad changes to criminal sentencing laws remain a tough sell issue in many state capitols, corrections officials are pushing other, less controversial changes to reduce prison populations. Many states have made sick or dying inmates eligible for early parole. Other states, including Florida and Tennessee, have invested more heavily in drug treatment courts and community supervision programs in the hopes of keeping offenders from returning to prison.  “Changing sentences is a very difficult thing to do. And so we’ve gone around it,” Pennsylvania Corrections Secretary Jeffrey Beard said during an annual summit of state legislators in Philadelphia last month.

jakking Budgets, California, Colorado, Early Release, Economic Issues, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington

Prisoners at the Knox County IL jail soon will have to pay for their stay in the county lockup, according to the Galesburg Register-Mail.

Sheriff David Clague told the Knox County Board Wednesday he hopes to raise over $100,000 a year by charging inmates $5 for each night they spend in jail. He also plans to put prisoners to work picking up trash and fixing area roads.  The Knox County Board voted in favor of Clague’s proposal Wednesday. Clague said all county department heads had been asked to try and find new revenue streams to offset reductions in state funding and the pressures of a weak economy.

The sole County Board member to vote against the plan to charge inmates for their stay in jail was Lyle Johnson.  He said the burden of paying the $5 charge could fall on relatives of inmates who have not committed a crime. “Somebody’s going to have to pay and it’s going to have be the family,” Johnson said.   Clague acknowledged that families would likely end up footing the bill, but said that might make criminals think twice before breaking the law. “If that’s a concern then they should consider that before going out and committing a crime,” he said. “I’m not making them pay the money, that family member is.”

Clague said inmates enjoy good living conditions at the public’s expense and he didn’t think it was unreasonable to expect them to pay for their time in jail. He said the practice is common in southern states and has been instituted in Peoria County.  “They are sitting in a cell paid for by the taxpayers with heating, air conditioning and three meals a day,” Clague said. “In return, why can’t we benefit somewhat?”

Most inmates will be able to afford the $5 nightly fee, Clague said. He explained that prisoners have special accounts where they lodge money to buy small items such as phone cards and painkillers while in jail. Money from those “commissary accounts” will now be used for the nightly fee. “About 92 percent of our current inmates have money on the books,” Clague said.  Prisoners who can’t pay, however, could be offered a chance to work on area roads to cover their bill. Clague said he had already hatched a plan to put prisoners to work in “menial” jobs that could save the county money.  Any prisoners selected to work outside will be carefully screened to make sure they don’t pose a safety risk. “Were not going to give them a chain saw or a knife or anything like that,” Clague said. He added that he had discussed his plan to put prisoners to work with the county’s highway department.

Clague estimated the county could net $110,000 a year by charging prisoners for their time behind bars and he expects to launch the scheme within the next week. He said the $5 fee was reasonable considering that some southern states charge up to $60 for a night in a cell … Some inmates are held in the county jail ahead of trial or court hearing, meaning they have yet to be found guilty. Clague said those inmates will still have to pay the $5 fee.

jakking Booking Fees, IL Knox County, Illinois