Rebuilding Lives. Strengthening Communities.

Introduction
The Reality of Reentry
Every year, the United States sets two prison records—one
we talk about and one we don’t.
Most Americans are quite familiar with our penchant for
putting people into prison. The number of individuals
incarcerated in state and federal correctional institutions has
risen exponentially in the past three decades. In 1980,
there were just over 300,000 people in state and federal
prisons; in 2003, there were nearly 1.4 million people. 1 The
total now exceeds 2.2 million when you combine state and
federal prisons with local jails and other types of confinement.
2 According to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics,
about 5.6 million adults have served time in state or federal
prison. 3 If this current rate remains unchanged, nearly
one in 15 persons born in 2001 will be imprisoned during
his or her lifetime. 4
But most Americans have typically paid little or no attention
to people coming back from prison. 5 At least 95 percent of
all state prisoners will be released at some point. 6 This year,
our country’s prisons will release nearly 650,000 individuals,
an increase from 170,000 in 1980. 7 This number does not
even include the millions who will finish up jail terms. 8
And they all go in and come out faster than most Americans
realize; the average felony sentence is approximately three
years. 9 The use of probation and parole has exploded to
correspond with these statistics; more than 4.1 million individuals
were on probation and another 765,000 were on
parole at the end of 2004—almost a three percent increase
in just one year. 10
Following national trends, Illinois has seen its prison population
soar in the last 30 years. Between 1970 and 2003,
the Illinois prison population increased by more than 500
percent, from 7,326 to 43,418 prisoners. 11 To keep up with
this growth, the state built an average of one new prison
every year between 1980 and 2000. 12 Yet Illinois prisons
are more overcrowded today than they were in 1980; more
than 44,000 prisoners are housed in facilities designed for
32,000. 13 Illinois currently has 27 correctional facilities,
seven work camps, two boot camps, and eight adult transitional
centers operating throughout the state and employs
14,000 staff to oversee the secure detainment of the state’s
convicted prisoners. 14
Meanwhile, Illinois has seen its prison exits rise as well.
Within just a few years, from 2000 to 2003, the number of
people released from Illinois state prisons jumped from
28,876 to 35,372—an increase of more than 22 percent. 15
Approximately 53 percent of prisoners (15,488 individuals)
released from all Illinois prisons in 2001 returned to the
City of Chicago alone. 16 Based on current estimates, more
than 21,000 will have settled within the city limits in
2005. 17 As the Chicago Tribune recently pointed out, that is
enough “to fill the United Center, about 10 city bus loads
rolling in each week.” 18
Add up all the people under correctional supervision in
Illinois—those behind bars, on probation, or on parole—
and the figure would surpass 244,000. 19 If they were all
placed in one location, it would be the second largest city in
the state. 20
MAYORAL POLICY CAUCUS ON PRISONER REENTRY
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