Illinois Department of Corrections Statewide Adult Recidivism Reduction Strategic Plan Implementation Program

The Second Chance Act (Pub. L. 110-199) provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of incarcerated adults and juveniles who are released from prison, jail, and juvenile residential facilities and returning to communities. The Second Chance Act Programs are designed to help communities develop and implement comprehensive and collaborative strategies that address the challenges posed by offender reentry and recidivism reduction.

Section 101 of the Second Chance Act authorizes federal awards to states that may be used for demonstration projects to promote the safe and successful reintegration into the community of individuals who have been incarcerated or detained and reduce overall recidivism rates. The goal of Section 101 of the Second Chance Act is to provide support to eligible applicants, in this case state departments of corrections, for the development and implementation of comprehensive and collaborative strategies that address the challenges posed by reentry to increase public safety and reduce recidivism.

The grantee will continue to meet the objectives of the program, to fund at the state level, effective strategies for reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety which incorporate the following principles: (1) focus on the people most likely to commit more crimes; (2) use evidenced-based programs proven to work and ensure the delivery of services is high quality; (3) deploy supervision policies and practices that balance sanctions and treatment; and (4) target places where crime and recidivism rates are the highest. Funds will be used to: (1) expand the staff training efforts statewide for all clinical, program and parole staff; (2) build on the work from the program evaluation to create data files to support a programs dashboard; and (3) bring on quality assurance staff to ensure that existing programs revised to become evidenced based and delivered with fidelity. The overall goal is to impact recidivism statewide.

NCA/NCF

The Second Chance Act (Pub. L. 110-199) provides a comprehensive response to the increasing number of incarcerated adults and juveniles who are released from prison, jail, and juvenile residential facilities and returning to communities. The Second Chance Act Programs are designed to help communities develop and implement comprehensive and collaborative strategies that address the challenges posed by offender reentry and recidivism reduction. Section 101 of the Second Chance Act authorizes federal awards to states that may be used for demonstration projects to promote the safe and successful reintegration into the community of individuals who have been incarcerated or detained and reduce overall recidivism rates. The goal of Section 101 of the Second Chance Act is to provide support to eligible applicants, in this case state departments of corrections, for the development and implementation of comprehensive and collaborative strategies that address the challenges posed by reentry to increase public safety and reduce recidivism. The grantee will continue to meet the objectives of the program, to fund at the state level, effective strategies for reducing recidivism and enhancing public safety which incorporate the following principles: (1) focus on the people most likely to commit more crimes; (2) use evidenced-based programs proven to work and ensure the delivery of services is high quality; (3) deploy supervision policies and practices that balance sanctions and treatment; and (4) target places where crime and recidivism rates are the highest.

The grantee will use awarded grant funds to implement systemic changes towards resource alignment, provide support for the development of a structured training curriculum for new and prospective leaders, and support hiring a policy-level who will recommend and implement policy across all department of corrections divisions. The project will conduct a survey of current supervisors, managers and senior leadership team to gather information related to years of service, education and training, as well as attitudes towards reentry planning and evidence based programs for use as a baseline for this project. The goal of the project is to enable the Illinois Department of Corrections to identify and address gaps in core competencies of the leadership team.

NCA/NCF