Rebuilding Lives. Strengthening Communities.

Internet. This vehicle allows for increased accessibility to
many people, and will enable the database to be updated
and maintained regularly. As with any kind of resource
guide, it runs the risk of becoming obsolete within
months. Consequently, the issue of how, when and who
updates and maintains this resource guide and database
must be dealt with at the outset.
Prisoners could assist with this responsibility. They would
be a consistent and low-cost labor force, and would gain
invaluable job experience at the same time. Additionally,
it would help them learn about organizations, programs
and services available to them after their release. In
Washington, the Correction’s Clearinghouse (CCH)
publishes a Case Management Resource Directory which
lists over 2,500 resources in the state—from free clothing
to substance abuse treatment—that can steer formerly
incarcerated individuals to needed help. CCH coordinated
correctional administrators and local college computer
instructors to devise a prison industry program for
prisoners to assist with designing, editing, maintaining,
producing and distributing the resource directory. 53
The resource guide also could be a practical and informative
tool for either Chicago’s 311 Call Center or a new
toll-free reentry information hotline. The 311 Call Center
is often used by Chicago residents to access non-emergency
and general information about Chicago’s events,
services, and community programs. It handles 3.8 million
calls annually, receiving requests or inquiries and forwarding
them to the appropriate departments. A toll-free
hotline could be established, as an alternative, to provide
callers with information on a wide range of issues,
including treatment centers, housing resources, and
employment agencies. Formerly incarcerated individuals
could contact the 311 Call Center or the toll-free hotline if
they are unsure about where to go for assistance, and the
operators could use the resource guide to provide direction
and guidance.
Expand housing options for formerly incarcerated individuals.
Recommendation
Issue
Housing is one of the most important elements of a
reentry plan for prisoners returning to the community
from prisons and jails, but sometimes a stable housing
option cannot be found by the time an individual is
released. Nationwide, of the approximately 650,000 individuals
released from state and federal prisons annually,
and the seven million individuals released from local jails,
an estimated 10 percent are released into homelessness. 54
For those with mental illness, approximately 20 percent
are homeless in the months before and after
incarceration. 55 In Chicago, approximately 1,200 formerly
incarcerated individuals are discharged from state
prisons to homeless shelters each year because they have
no other place to go at the time of their release. 56
Homelessness, literally being back on the streets, makes it
difficult to comply with parole conditions and contributes
to the cycle of recidivism.
New research has emerged on the relationship between
incarceration and homelessness, which suggests that
“homelessness contributes to a higher risk for incarceration
and that, inversely, incarceration contributes to an
increased risk of homelessness.” 57 Data from a New York
study showed that 6.5 percent of prisoners had used
homeless shelters in the two-year period prior to entering
prison; 45.1 percent of these individuals had subsequent
shelter stays and 42 percent had subsequent prison stays. 58
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