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Impact Incarceration Program

NCJ Number
188193
Date Published
January 2001
Length
48 pages
Annotation
In addition to providing a profile of the offenders who have been recommended for and participated in the Illinois Impact Incarceration Program (IIP), this 2000 Annual Report to the Governor and the General Assembly describes program components, inmate activities, cost comparisons, and post-program performance.
Abstract
The IIP is an intervention program designed to promote lawful behavior in criminal offenders through a highly structured program of discipline. Intended to develop responsibility, self-esteem, and positive self-concept, the program also addresses the underlying issues that lead to criminal behavior and substance abuse. The IIP facilities are located at Dixon Springs in the Shawnee National Forest in southeastern Illinois, in Greene County in central Illinois, and at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in southern Illinois. The IIP has been operating at full capacity since January 1991. Judges have referred 24,577 offenders to the IIP. Of this number, 17,349 have been admitted to the program. The typical IIP inmate is a 22-year-old black male with an 11th grade education and a history of substance abuse. He has been convicted of a property or drug offense and is serving a 4.2-year sentence. Seventy-two percent (12,167 inmates) of all program exits have graduated from the program. Of those graduates who have been released for a 3-year period, 25.7 percent have returned to prison with a new felony offense; the expected recidivism rate for comparable inmates is 35.7 percent. Since the IIP was implemented in October 1990, over $40 million has been saved due to the shorter prison stay of the participants, and projected prison crowding has been eased. 6 tables, 5 figures, 20 references, and appended program description process flow, aggregate statistics since implementation, and recidivism rates