Illinois Experiments With Treatment and Assistance for Offenders
by TChris
Drug offenders who pay their societal debt by finishing a prison term return to a society that often continues to punish them by denying them employment. Out of despair or necessity, many return to the world of drugs, and then to prison.
Illinois is experimenting with a program to end that cycle. Its Sheridan Correctional Center will soon be the country's largest drug treatment prison. Unlike many drug treatment prisons, Sheridan focuses on repeat offenders.
Illinois recognized that, with 40,000 inmates coming out of its prisons this year, and with 80 percent likely to return to crime within three years, the simple-minded "lock 'em up" strategy has failed. It also recognized that treatment alone won't prevent recidivism. Inmates at Sheridan participate in educational or job training programs. Critically, support for offenders continues after their release into society.
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