The Illinois Department of Corrections ( IDOC ) has been in charge of administrating all “state prisons. juvenile centres and grownup and juvenile word services” since its creative activity in 1970. It has been entrusted with mission of protecting “the public from condemnable wrongdoers through a system of captivity and supervising which firmly segregates wrongdoers from society. assures wrongdoers of their constitutional rights and maintains plans to heighten the success of offenders’ reentry into society. ”
It was merely on July 1. 2006 that a separate organic structure. the Department of Juvenile Justice. was established to take over the disposal of the juvenile corrections system. When IDOC was established in 1970. there were merely seven grownup installations in the province of Illinois. However. the execution of stricter Torahs. which has resulted to the sentencing of more wrongdoers and saw the demand for more prison installations. have likewise increased the entire figure of big correctional centres in the province to 28. Aside from the correctional centres. IDOC besides established a figure of passage centres and boot cantonments ( Illinois Department of Corrections ) .
Consequently. the resources needed to administrate the system had to be increased over the old ages. For case. in 1995. IDOC had been runing on a budget of $ 705 million. By 2005. its budget had been raised to $ 1. 2 billion ( The Pew Charitable Trusts ) . For Fiscal Year 2009. the budget which has been recommended for IDOC is $ 1. 32 billion. This sum is for the services of its 11. 000 employees and the disbursals needed for the disposal and care of its 28 grownup rectification installations and eight grownup passage centres ( ATC ) . Aside from pull offing about 45. 000 grownup inmates. the bureau is besides oversing some 35. 000 probationers ( IDOC ) .
There are eight security degrees in the prison system of the province. Degree 1 is for “maximum security” inmates. There are seven maximal security compounds in Illinois. These are the correctional centres in Dwight. Menard. Pontiac. Stateville. Tamms. Thomson. and the psychiatric unit in Dixon. The four correctional centres in Hill. Lawrence. Pinckneyville. and Western Illinois are rated flat 2 for “secure medium security. ” Meanwhile. degree 3 for “high medium security” has been given to the correctional centres in Big Muddy River. Danville. Dixon. Illinois River. and Shawnee. the medium-security units of Menard and Pontiac. and the Dixon Special Treatment Center.
The correctional centres in Centralia. Decatur. Graham. Lincoln. Logan. and Sheridan have been rated flat 4 for “medium security” while the evaluation of degree 5 for “high minimal security” was granted to the Jacksonville. Robinson. and Taylorville correctional centres. Level 6 or “minimum security” is the evaluation of the correctional centres located in East Moline. Southwestern Illinois. Vandalia. and Vienna. Meanwhile. the work cantonments are rated flat 7 or “low minimal security. ”
They are found in Clayton. East Moline. Green County. Hardin County. Pittsfield. Springfield. Southwestern Illinois. and Vandalia. The Impact Incarceration Programs of Dixon Springs and DuQuoin have besides been classified low minimal security as are the minimum-security units being maintained in Kankakee. Stateville. and Tamms. Finally. the eight passage centres are rated flat 8 for “transitional security. ” These ATCs could be found in Crossroads. Decatur. Fox Valley. Jessie “Ma” Houston. North Lawndale. Peoria. Southern Illinois. and West Side ( IDOC ) .
The rate of recidivism in the province was a high 54. 4 per centum in 2003. For this ground. the province implemented a reform program in 2005 for the specific intent of cut downing recidivism. Under the program. the province would duplicate the figure of its parole officers so that their caseload would efficaciously be reduced. The net consequence would non merely be increased monitoring and supervising but parole officers would besides be able to “target bad probationers with services and surveillance” ( The Pew Charitable Trusts ) .
Consequently. recidivism in Illinois decreased to 52. 3 per centum in 2008 ( IDOC ) . Observers. nevertheless. have been disturbed by the fact nine African Americans have been found to be incarcerated for every individual white American. This find is considered critical in measuring the province of the condemnable justness of Illinois. Its prisons are besides considered to be among the most crowded in the state with an tenancy rate of 133 per centum of capacity ( The Pew Charitable Trusts ) .
