From the report:
Echoing national trends, Illinois’ rate of incarceration, even when controlling for population growth, has increased more than 500 percent in the last forty years, with a disproportionate impact on the State’s poor, mostly minority, citizens. Today, Illinois prisons are operating at roughly 150 percent of design capacity, and, at the beginning of 2015, housed 48,278 inmates, most of whom were sentenced for non-violent offenses. Nearly all of these prisoners will eventually return to their communities, and about half will be re-incarcerated within the following three years.
Rauner said some of the recommendations outlined in the report can be implemented by his administration without approval from state lawmakers. Reforms that would require the passage of legislation should garner bipartisan support, he added.
The Commission’s proposals revolve around four main goals laid out in the governor’s executive order: ensuring the lawfulness of sentencing and programming, reducing the number of prison admissions, reducing the length of prison stays and reducing recidivism by increasing the chances of successful reintegration into society.
Here are brief summaries of the 14 recommendations listed in the Commission’s initial report:
*Enhance rehabilitative programs in Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) by implementing or expanding programming that address particular needs, such as cognitive behavioral therapy and substance abuse treatment. Prioritize access to such programs for high-risk offenders.
*Remove unnecessary barriers that prevent offenders from obtaining professional licenses, which often makes it impossible for released inmates to find lawful employment.
*Require IDOC and the Secretary of State to provide inmates with a free state identification card upon release when their release plan considers residence in Illinois.
*Prevent the use of prisons to house felons with projected lengths of stay of less than one year, and authorize IDOC to use existing, alternative forms of imprisonment for such individuals.
*Give judges more discretion to determine whether probation is appropriate for the following lower-level felony offenses: residential burglary, Class 2 felonies (second or subsequent) and drug law violations.
*Before an individual is sentenced to prison for a Class 3 or 4 felony, require the presiding judge to explain during sentencing why incarceration is appropriate if the offender has no prior probation sentences or no prior convictions for a violent crime.
*Expedite and promote the use of validated risk-and-needs assessment tools by IDOC, the Prisoner Review Board and Illinois Circuit Courts in order to assess an offender’s risk of reoffending and the needs that must be addressed to change future behavior, which could help reduce the rate of recidivism.
*Incentivize the creation of local Criminal Justice Coordinating Councils to develop strategic plans between state and local agencies, allowing the latter to target specific crime problems and identify how state funding can be used more effectively to address those problems.
*Support the establishment of the Illinois Data Exchange Coordinating Council to expand data collection and facilitate information sharing among units of government.
*Require state agencies that provide funding for criminal justice programs to evaluate those programs and eliminate those found to be ineffective while expanding ones that are effective or promising.
*Expand eligibility programming credits to allow all inmates to earn credits for successfully completing rehabilitative programming, except for credits that would reduce a sentence below Truth-in-Sentencing limits.
*Pair risk-and-needs research and evidence with appropriate programming to better utilize Adult Transition Centers, which should be reserved for high- and medium-risk offenders prior to their release. ATCs have proven to be effective at preparing offenders for reintegration into society.
*Develop protocols to place inmates who are terminally ill or severely incapacitated in home confinement or a medical facility, except those sentenced to natural life.
*Expand and improve the use of electronic monitoring technology.
Reducing recidivism by increasing the chances of successful reentry into society
Some of these recommendations may be controversial, especially for lawmakers in an election year. Rauner said it’s important that legislators not be afraid to talk about some of these issues.
Some of the recommendations include giving judges discretion to sentence probation for residential burglary, class 2 felonies and drug law violations, removing barriers keeping those convicted of crimes from obtaining professional licenses, and prevent the use of prison for felons with short lengths of stay, among other suggestions. Rauner says the state has to be honest about the issues spanning from racial disparities in the criminal justice system to drug laws and sentencing provisions.
