Insights & Information

The U.S. Sentencing Commission voted unanimously today to make their crack guideline reductions retroactive. Last August, Congress passed the Fair Sentencing Act, which reduced from 100:1 to 18:1 the disparity between crack and powder cocaine mandatory minimum sentences. The Commission followed suit by reducing its sentencing guideline for crack offenses in accordance with the new law. The Commission’s vote today extends the reduced penalties to the sentencing guidelines portion of crack prisoners’ sentences. An estimated 12,040 people will be eligible to ask the court for reduced sentences. Average sentence reductions are expected to be 37 months. Advocates including Families Against Mandatory Minimums are now urging Congress to make the legislative change to mandatory minimums currently on the law books to reflect the commission's recommendation. To read more, click here.

The Center for State Governments' Justice Center has issued an advocacy alert urging support for the Mentally Ill Offender Treatment and Crime Reduction Act (MIOTCRA). The Act provides states and local governments with resources to plan and implement initiatives for people with mental illnesses involved with the criminal justice system in order to increase public safety and improve the lives of people with mental illnesses in the criminal justice system and their families. The program is in jeopardy - the President's 2012 budget proposed the consolidation of MIOTCRA into a single problem-solving courts initiative, which would exclude many of the key elements of the Act. This policy shift would eliminate MIOTCRA and terminate over 60 percent of its program areas. They are urging people to contact their members of congress and ask them to support funding for the Act. Click here to learn more or send a letter of support.

Captain Scott Compton has been named as commander of Illinois State Police District 18. District 18 headquarters are in Litchfield, encompassing Calhoun, Greene, Jersey, Macoupin and Montgomery counties.Click here to read an announcement in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Illinois' Small Business Empowerment & Workforce Development Committee is holding an official state hearing on unemployment and job creation. State Representative LaShawn Ford invites all to come to the hearing and rally for jobs. For a flyer, click here.

July 26
10:30 a.m.
James R. Thompson Center (NEW LOCATION)
RSVP: workforce@lashawnford.com

A new report from the Congressional Research Service provides the latest data and information about the success of reentry into society for people released from prisons and jails. "Offender Reentry: Correctional Statistics, Reintegration into the Community, and Recidivism" by Nathan James, notes that the Second Chance Act of 2008 expanded the federal government's focus on reentry, and it presents a review of the "what works" literature, summarizes federal reentry programs, and lists current legislative issues relevant to the success of reentry programs and initiatives. To access the report (PDF), click here.

A $250,000 state Adult Redeploy Illinois grant was awarded to the Madison County courts in an effort to improve services to non-violent offenders in the county's alternative courts. The grant, awarded by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority, will help community-based services lower the number of non-violent offenders incarcerated in state prisons. To read the entire article, click here or to learn more about Adult Redeploy Illinois, click here.

On June 10, Jack Cutrone, Executive Director of the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority (ICJIA), awarded a $260,000 federal grant to establish the Illinois Center of Excellence in Mental Health and Justice in Winnebago County. To help address the significant rates of mental health problems and recidivism in justice-involved populations, the center will “promote, coordinate, and provide training to communities looking to implement jail diversion programs and specialty courts for mentally ill and/or substance-abusing offenders, and offenders who are military veterans.” The center will be located at Rockford’s University of Illinois School of Medicine. Satellite programs will also be launched from several University of Illinois sites. To read more in the Park Forest eNews, click here.

This week U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VA) and Rob Portman (R-OH) introduced legislation to reauthorize the Second Chance Act. First passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in 2008, the law promotes evidence-based programming to aid prisoner reentry and thereby improve public safety. Since the law’s passage 250 grants have been awarded in nearly every state providing substance abuse treatment, employment and mentoring services, among others, to improve the transition from incarceration to communities. The Sentencing Project is supporting Senators Leahy and Portman as they move the Second Chance Reauthorization Act of 2011 quickly through the Judiciary Committee, and encourages supporters to contact their Senators through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 to urge them to support the continuation of reentry programming. The group has also drafted a letter to leaders in the Senate and House Appropriations Committees asking for full funding of the Second Chance Act in 2012, and urges organizations to please consider signing on. Please contact Kara Gotsch at kgotsch@sentencingproject.org by close of business Friday, June 24 if you would like to do so.

Summits of Hope bring together service providers to educate the re-entry population about services of potential interest. These include health care services, education opportunities, mock job interviews, community services, and many more. Summits are held throughout the year at various locations across Illinois. Please see below for specific information regarding the three upcoming summits:
 
Springfield Summit of Hope
June 28, 2011, 8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.
Springfield, Illinois
 
Champaign Summit of Hope
July 12, 2011
8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.
 
Kankakee Summit of Hope
September 13, 2011
8:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

For more information, click here.

Funding under the Second Chance Act solicitation is available to help state and local governments and federally recognized Indian tribes plan and implement programs and strategies to reduce recidivism and ensure safe and successful reentry of juveniles released from prisons, jails, and juvenile detention facilities back to the community. The application deadline is July 11, at 11:59 p.m. ET. To download the application (PDF), click here. To help potential applicants respond to this solicitation, the National Reentry Resource Center (a project of the Council of State Governments’ Justice Center) will hold a free webinar on June 27, 2011, at 2:00 p.m. ET. To register for the webinar, click here.