The Short-Term Goals improving methods for re-entry (Illinois State commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing refor-2015):
• Creating a Commission that will provide the legislative body and governor office with steps and policy to improve correction reform, and re-entry improvement (this has already took place in 2010).
• Increase the use of risk-and-needs assessment: Expand the use of risk-assessment tools by IDOC, the Prisoner Review Board, Community Re-entry programs, and Summit of Hope events, so that rehabilitative resources, such as drug and mental health treatment, are targeted at those offenders who would benefit the most from them. Also look into combine them, for one good assessment for re-entry.
Mid-Term Goals improving methods
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The state should change how it uses its four Adult Transition Centers so that higher-risk offenders, not just low- risk offenders, can benefit from the programs prior to release, and the state needs to review on creating new Adult Transition Centers and not prisons.
• Enhance rehabilitative programming in Illinois prisons: Improve access to education; vocational training and substance abuse programs to help offenders successfully adapt to life after prison, this is essential to lower the rate of recidivism.
• Remove burdensome occupational licensing barriers: Remove unnecessary barriers keeping ex-offenders from obtaining professional licenses. There are too many state barriers that keep ex-offenders from getting contract license like forktruck driving, Semidrivers, Nurse ad, and etc. Many ex-offenders have the skills and passion to do these jobs, just need the barrier out of the
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This process often wastes resources because short prison stays do not last long enough for offenders to benefit from drug treatment and other rehabilitative programs. Moreover, housing low-risk inmates with high-risk inmates reduces the likelihood that low-level offenders rehabilitate and avoid crime after release. This will save the State of Illinois Billions of dollars which could be used to services, which could make a new taxpayer.
• Discourage prison for low-risk offenders: For low-risk offenders, incarceration often isn’t a cost-effective use of public resources. Work with judges explains at sentencing why incarceration, rather than an alternative such as probation, is appropriate when a low-level offender hasn’t been on probation previously, and has no history of violent crime.
• Expand eligibility for programming credits: Giving inmates the chance to earn time off their sentences by participating in rehabilitative programs encourages good conduct in prison, and increases the likelihood that they’ll succeed after release. All inmates should be eligible and encouraged to join these programs, and receive certificates, and skills that might assist them with work in the
One major concern is the quality of rehabilitation the inmates receive while they are incarcerated. The question to ask is “Are our prisoners being properly rehabilitated?”
Prison administrators, backed by legislatures, can continue to utilize early release credit programs without policy changes. The continued use of early release credit programs would provide a reduction to overcrowding. However, in continuing to use current early credit programs, legislatures are not addressing public safety concerns and the lack rehabilitation. Offenders are being released into society far too early to enable them to perform restitution and undergo rehabilitation.
It would be our jail advantage to develop and address the re-entry program to help in the recidivism in the county jail. If these issues address it could help with the overcrowding of the jail population by implementing programs that will assist them in their criminal behavior. However, some state such as Nevada assist offender who is homeless by placing them in a reentry program to assist them with housing and another service that meets their criteria (Schmalleger, F. & Smykia, J., 2016). Therefore using these resource could possibly give this offender a sense security in a shelter environment and not on the street.
One of the main barriers that inmates face when they are released from prison is limited cognitive skills, limited education and work experience, and substance abuse or other mental health problems. Substance abuse and other mental health problems limit employability because it limits the job readiness that is required for employment (Holzer, Raphael & Stoll, 2003). Another issue that is faced when inmates are released into society is that any skills that they did have prior to conviction has diminished greatly and they face lower pay due to their diminished or lack of skills, and the attitudes that have been developed during their time in prison deeply affects their attitude during their search for employment. Offenders also face another barrier when searching for employment. Many businesses can be held legally liable for any criminal action that their employees may cause (Holzer, Raphael & Stoll, 2003). These barriers that offenders face upon release is why solid solutions and planning must be implemented when considering the integration of ex-felons into society and preparation for reentry must begin well before the scheduled release date in order to successfully reintegrate an inmate into society and reduce the rate of recidivism.
William Golding kills off everything important to survival and by this he means that the world is doomed. So many significant objects are broken by the end of the book, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding, which is a novel about a bunch of inexperienced boys being trapped together on an island and are forced to find means of survival. There are a lot of symbols in this book that all represent the only way they can survive. Each symbol represents a piece of the world and how it functions. Without all of these pieces, the world can’t function. William Golding clearly shows that the world is doomed by one by one killing off all of the objects and symbols that keep them sane and alive.
California has one of the nation’s highest recidivism rates, which has been a well-known problem for many years. The rate has been steadily dropping. However it is still about 15% higher than the national average of 43.3% (McDonald, “California’s Recidivism Problem”). The recidivism problem in California is caused by rehabilitation programs not being effective enough to keep ex-convicts out of prison. Keeping prisoners in the California prison system is an enormous waste of taxpayer money. Instead of spending more and more on prisons, the money could be used elsewhere such as lowering college tuition for students. The government could easily save money for other purposes such as this by changing rehabilitation to make it more effective. In order to reduce spending on prisons and recidivism, prisons need to have better rehabilitation programs to make ex-convicts into productive members of society.
The prison population in the United States has been growing steadily for more over 30 years, a great portion of this population are returned offenders. According to the Bureau of Justice Statistics reports, each year more than 650,000 offenders are released into communities with at least 5 million of the ex-offenders being under some form of community-based supervision (James, 2010). In an attempt to curtail the rate of recidivism, the Bureau of Prison contracts with Residential Reentry Centers (RRCs) to assist inmates approaching release. RRC’s provide safe, structured, supervised environment, as well as employment counseling, job placement and financial management assistance (Prisons, 2017).
Rehabilitation programs that are available in prisons are a vital key to reforming at least eight out of ten inmates back to a productive, healthy citizen and leader. For this very reason the law AB 900 was passed in 2007 and just to give you a brief summary of the bill it discussed the establishment of pilot programs to be developed by the Department of Corrections for counseling and substance abuse that will assist inmates with their successful reintegration process back into the community. The bill require the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to implement programs and rewards that increases inmate participation and completion of those programs such vocational and education that is consistent with that inmate’s needs. The AB 900 bill will also require the department to expand all substance abuse programs in the prisons so as to accommodate thousands of inmates with the history of substance abuse such as drugs and alcohol. “This bill would require the department to conduct assessments of all inmates that include, but are not limited to, data regarding the inmate’s history of substance abuse, medical and mental health, education, family background, criminal activity, and social functioning which shall be used to place inmates in programs that will aid in their reentry to society and that will most likely reduce the inmate’s chances of reoffending.” (California State Association of Counties).
strengthening re-entry programs in federal prisons designed to reduce recidivism and enhance reintegration into the workforce after
Employment is always an issue when it comes to an ex-offender. Not only is it hard for the everyday person in society to find employment due to a poor economy, but it is much harder for an ex-offender. While in prison, prisoners are usually made to work. Unlike other programs such as counseling, prison work programs can be justified for reasons other than rehabilitation of the individual offender. From the perspective of the policy maker in the criminal justice system, they can help manage the population by occupying the time of the prisoners, aid in the operation of the prison, create revenue (maybe), and provide a
To begin, the first step is to correct our lower offense laws and remove the jail sentencing on almost all of them. This will prevent overcrowding in jails, and in turn save each state money. Housed arrests, which would allow a cheaper solution to jail time, and community service time, which would allow the offender’s to aid their community/state. Then to solve the problem of several hundreds of people in jail over lower offenses, we begin a program to check the mental stability/instability of inmates, and assess to conclude if they are ready to rejoin society.
Sir Wilfrid Robarts, a lawyer, takes on Leonard Vole as a client, even though his nurse, Miss Plimsoll, tries to stop him from taking this case. Vole is accused of murdering Mrs. Emily French, a rich widow who had become very close to Vole. She even ended up making Vole the main recipient of her will. There is strong circumstantial evidence that all points to Vole as the killer. When Sir Wilfrid speaks with Vole's wife Christine to try and start a defense, he finds her cold and assertive, but she does give Vole an alibi for that night.
Given the number of inmates in the prison system and the high level of recidivism, it is important to seek out possible solutions to this growing problem. By implementing more educationally and vocationally oriented programs it is possible that current recidivism rates can be reduced, thereby offering some relief for existing overcrowding conditions.
Inmates need to be educated and rehabilitated in order to be released back into society. If prisoners receive a good education they are less likely to commit misconduct in the future. The Three State Recidivism Study
One major problem of prison overcrowding is the effect it has on prison organizational stability. The more prisoners and people put in jail have made it harder for prison guards and staff to monitor and control them. The entire prison system must make enormous changes in order to accommodate for the number of inmates versus the number of prison guards (O’Leary). This often results in a misclassification of offenders. Many who come through the system are classified based on the amount of space available instead of on the security level and programs that would be most suitable for them (Howard). “It is not uncommon to find inmates, classified as medium security, incarcerated in maximum security institutions, while other inmates are in medium security who were previously considered candidates for maximum security” (Howard). Misclassifying offenders often leads to “slow progress through the corrections system as well as a slow exit” (Howard). This in turn only prolongs and increases the overcrowding problem (Howard). The corrections programs should be reformed to meet the needs of the inmates rather than the inmates having to adjust to meet the requirements of the system. Offenders need to be on specific rehabilitation programs that are customized to fit their needs, such as alcohol and drug abuse programs and so forth.