Rebuilding Lives. Strengthening Communities.

Reforms with Statewide Impact
MAYORAL POLICY CAUCUS ON PRISONER REENTRY
Issue
Typically, on their release day, prisoners are given their
personal belongings, a small amount of “gate money,”
perhaps a bus ticket and are told to go directly to their
host site to meet with their parole agent. Most released
prisoners return to their communities without referrals, a
support system or a plan of action during the most critical
time of reentry.
Released prisoners, then, may simply wander from program
to program in the hopes of finding an appropriate fit
or an available spot. Individuals with substance abuse or
mental health issues are at particular risk without appropriate
discharge planning. Without therapy or proper
medication, they may relapse in a matter of days or even
hours.
The responsibility often falls on parole agents—who may
have caseloads of between 70 to 100 parolees—to quickly
identify the parolees’ needs and form a plan for connecting
them to services available in the community. Because
parole agents may get assigned released prisoners in a
large geographic area, many parole agents may not be fully
aware of all available agencies, programs or resources near
their parolees. In many cases, relying primarily on a
parole agent to develop a discharge plan and make the
appropriate linkages may be too little too late.
Solution
Develop a standard discharge planning process that connects
formerly incarcerated individuals with reentry services in or near
the community to which they will return.
Recommendation
The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) should create
a standardized and coordinated discharge planning system
throughout its institutions that connects prisoners with
appropriate social service agencies in the community before
they are released. That way, on a prisoner’s release day, he
or she will know exactly where to go for support services,
and the agencies will be prepared for the individual’s arrival.
A discharge planning system should be designed to address
treatment, employment, health, housing, transportation,
financial and other related needs with which prisoners must
contend once outside prison walls.
In 2002, IDOC received a $2 million grant from the U.S.
Department of Justice through the Serious and Violent
Offender Reentry Initiative to establish the Illinois Going
Home Program. The Going Home Program is a pilot
program for male prisoners between the ages of 18–24
who will be paroled to the North Lawndale community. 11
IDOC has contracted with several social service agencies
to provide participants with assessment, intensive case
management, substance abuse treatment, mental health
counseling, transitional housing, employment training
and placement assistance. The program’s transition teams
are comprised of clinical reentry managers, job developers,
licensed clinicians, parole agents, and IDOC
counselors. These teams work with prisoners during the
last six to twelve months prior to their release date to
develop a reentry plan and discharge summary, and to
address any barriers they may have. 12 During this period,
the participants are incarcerated at an IDOC Adult
Transition Center in the North Lawndale area. After their
release, the former prisoners are required to have ongoing
meetings with their clinical reentry manager and maintain
contact with their parole agent. 13 The goal of the Going
Home Program is to reduce recidivism by building strong
relationships with service agencies in the community.
University of Chicago researchers currently are completing
an evaluation of the Going Home Program. Their initial
recommendations encourage IDOC to begin reentry
support services as early as possible while prisoners are
incarcerated; bring the community inside prisons by
involving mentors, faith-based organizations and business
owners with the transition from prison to parole;
gradually transition prisoners from higher security prison
facilities to Adult Transition Centers then to a transitional
living environment before returning back to their home;
and provide more intensive case management after release
by more frequent face-to-face contacts and smaller
caseloads for parole agents and case managers. 14
IDOC should use the lessons of the Going Home Program
to help inform policymakers about the changes needed to
develop and implement an effective discharge planning
process statewide.
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