RECIDIVISM RATE REACHES RECORD IN ILLINOIS

The odds are stacked against former prisoners the minute they leave
prison.

It can be a struggle to integrate back into society. More than half
of the 42,000 prisoners who left Illinois detention facilities last
year will be back behind bars within three years.

The state's recidivism rate of 54.6 percent is calculated on a
three-year basis and reflects inmates who left prison in 2001 and
were back by 2004.

It's the state's highest rate ever, according to the Illinois
Criminal Justice Authority and Illinois Department of Corrections.
Since 1985, when it was 39.1 percent, the rate has steadily increased.

Nationwide in 2005, 38 percent of all parole discharges returned to
jail and 11 percent fled the justice system, according to the Bureau
of Justice Statistics.

David Olson, a criminal justice professor at Loyola University in
Chicago who has studied recidivism, said three factors affect it --
characteristics of the prison population, the state's parole policy
and the state's policing strategies.

"If the characteristics of the prison population change -- substance
abuse history, criminal history, marital status -- it can influence
recidivism rates. If the population is getting younger and younger,
that could increase the recidivism rate," he said.

In the 1990s, the state kept a heavy hand on parolees. If one was
late for an appointment, it was considered a violation and the
parolee was sent back to prison. Today, that isn't the case, Mr.
Olson said. Parole officers are a bit more lenient.

"The third thing is beyond the control of the prison system," he
said. "If police say, 'We are going to crack down on certain acts'...
We saw more of an effect of that in the late 1980s as a result of the
increase in drug enforcement."

Ex-prisoners face several barriers when released. It can be difficult
to get a job because their prison information is available to
employers, Mr. Olson said.

"People who go to prison have a long history and a wide-array of
deficiencies, in terms of educational levels, exposure to violence,
physical abuse. We are very naive if we think a year in prison will
undo decades of deficiencies," he said.

Housing also is an issue, as many ex-prisoners have nowhere to go,
Mr. Olson said.

"The argument has always been, 'What do you expect when you take
someone out of a bad environment, put them in prison, then put them
back in the environment from which they came.' There are not a whole
lot of options for them. Communities lack the capacity to reintegrate
people coming out of prison."

Inmates are exposed to little rehabilitation in prison, he said.
"Most people think the punishment should change their behavior."

Historically, mental health and drug abuse issues aren't addressed.
"It's constantly a funding battle," Mr. Olson said, explaining that
people question why prisoners should have vocational training and
drug rehabilitation when their own children can't get it for free.

In 2004, Gov. Rod Blagojevich reopened the Sheridan prison, which
focuses on drug treatment and other programs to help with community
re-entry. It has become a national model and has cut recidivism rates
among those participating by 66 percent, according to the Illinois
Government News Network.

But Mr. Olson said lack of funding prevents expanding the program to
other state detention centers.

There are the successes, Mr. Olson said, noting that about 45 percent
of prisoners released from Illinois prisons do not re-offend.

"One of the largest predictors of recidivism is some sort of
transforming experience," he said, for instance a parent deciding
they don't want their child to go down the same road.