Insights & Information

Note: The deadline for the RFP has been extended to Tuesday, October 9th.

The Adult Redeploy Illinois Oversight Board has released a Request for Proposals (RFP) to counties, groups of counties, or judicial circuits for funding to expand alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders. The Adult Redeploy Illinois program provides grants to increase programming in their areas in exchange for reducing the number of people they send to the Illinois Department of Corrections. Funding is currently being provided for planning, expansion, extension, and implementation ramp-up efforts for local Adult Redeploy Illinois sites. Applications are due September 28, 2012, for the grant period running from November 1, 2012, through June 30, 2013. The full RFP can be viewed here, the cover page template can be viewed here, and the budget template can be viewed here.

As the population of the Illinois' Department of Corrections nears 50,000, the proportion of resources that IDOC must use for healthcare is growing, and with that, the resources available for programs that can reduce recidivism are on the decline. A recent report published by the John Howard Association of Illinois highlights the burdens of this healthcare system and provides fifteen recommendations to improve it. Not only does the inadequate healthcare systems in Illinois prisons effect the lives of those that occupy cells, if improperly treated, once released, releasees may bring communicable diseases to his or her community. To improve the prison healthcare system, JHA suggests that IDOC provide the female population gender-based programming, that IDOC and state legislators study alternatives to incarceration for Illinois’ growing elderly incarcerated population, and that IDOC prepare to enroll inmates in Medicaid in 2014. To read the other recommendations, view the full report here.

With the release of his budget recommendations for FY13, Governor Quinn announced the closure of two juvenile justice facilities (Murphysboro and Joliet). While there are mixed review of this plan, some criminal justice reform advocates have come out in support of the plan on the grounds that it could both save the state money and permit youth to receive rehabilitative services and treatments in their communitites rather than behind bars. Additionally, the Governor wants to close two adult facilities (Tamms "supermax" prison, and Dwight) and six transitional centers, which serve as halfway houses for people leaving prison and returning to their communities. To read media coverage of the budget and closures, click here, here, here, and here.

Read responses to the Governor's budget and planned closures from several IACJ member organizations: 

• Safer Foundation
• TASC
• John Howard Association

The John Howard Association (JHA) recently released a report on Stateville Northern Reception & Classification Center (NRC), the state's largest intake, classification, and processing unit for male inmates entering state custody. NRC serves as the first point of contact for the majority of male prisoners in the Illinois Department of Corrections (DOC), receiving and classifying approximately 4,000 new inmates (including those scheduled to appear in court and those charged with parole violations) each month. To read more, click here.

New York state has passed a new "911 Good Samaritan Law" designed to prevent deaths from alcohol and drug overdoses. The legislation encourages people to report drug or alcohol overdoses without fear of being charged with possession of small amounts of drugs. The bill was signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo in July and has been in effect since September 18, making New York the fourth state to have such a law. For more info, click here.