Illinois Prisoner Reentry Program

The Prisoner Reentry Initiative (PRI) is designed to provide funding to state units of government to develop and implement institutional and community corrections-based offender reentry programs. The PRI strengthens urban communities characterized by large numbers of returning, nonviolent prisoners. PRI is designed to reduce recidivism by helping returning inmates find work and assess other critical services in their communities. The PRI supports strategies to deliver pre-release assessments and services, and to develop transition plans in collaboration with other justice and community-based agencies and providers for supervised and non-supervised, nonviolent offenders.

The Illinois Department of Corrections plans to establish pre-release and case management services for offenders residing at adult transition centers. At a minimum, these services will consist of risk assessments, release/transition plans, and referrals to community-based reentry services. The target population for these services will be individuals who are at least 18 years old, have been convicted as an adult, are imprisoned by the Illinois Department of Corrections, and have never been convicted of a violent or sex-related offense. The majority of participants will be nonviolent offenders sentenced for crimes related to substance abuse, including but not limited to those sentenced for the possession, sale, or manufacture of illegal drugs. The goal is to reduce recidivism rates for participants and increase public safety. The project's advisory group will develop a procedural manual that describes the roles and responsibilities of each community group and government agency involved in the project. Monitoring and data collection systems will be established to measure performance.

CA/NCF