INTENSIVE COMMUNITY RESTORATION: THE NEED FOR
EFFECTIVE AND EFFICIENT RE-ENTRY INFRASTRUCTURE
PROVIDING HOLISTIC SERVICES
Sodiqa Williams Esq. *I. INTRODUCTION: THE STATE OF MASS INCARCERATION IN THE
UNITED STATESIn May of 2020, a viral video of the killing of George Floyd at the hands of a police
officer in Minneapolis, Minnesota, led to a national reckoning on the disproportionate
effect that the American criminal legal system has on its black and brown communities.
For years, the Black Lives Matter movement has driven the effort to reanalyse our broken
criminal legal system, not only as a matter of public safety but also as a matter of publichealth. This movement has gained broader traction than ever before, finding an increasing
international stage. A poll conducted by ABC News/ Washington Post in July of 2020
found that 69 per cent of Americans surveyed believe Black people and other minorities
do not receive equal treatment in the criminal justice system. 1
People with arrest and conviction records are permanently deprived of certain rights
and stripped of opportunities for housing, education, employment, social services andother necessities. It has become clear that contact with the criminal legal system canpermanently disable individuals’ ability to readapt to society resulting in substantialsocial and economic costs and a lifetime of social stigmatization. The economic fallout
is widespread across all systems, compounding the negative effects of poverty, foodinsecurity, housing insecurity, employment, violence, physical health needs, mental
health needs and education.
The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the difficulties associated with re-entry, as
the pandemic has prompted a wave of early release. According to Rob Jeffreys, acting
Director of the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC), the Illinois prison population
has fallen by more than 18 per cent during the pandemic. This means that as records ofnumbers of people return to their communities it is imperative that state and local leaders
provide the critical services required for successful re-entry to avoid high rates ofrecidivism. 2 While this early release is positive news, it has put a strain on existing
services and increased competition for already rare employment opportunities.
Considering that as of September 2020 the number of nonfarm jobs decreased in all
fourteen Illinois metropolitan areas, and that no industry sector saw job gains in mostGeneral Counsel and Vice President of External Affairs, Safer Foundation, Chicago, Illinois, UnitedStates of America. This article was co-authored by Ben Osborne M.A. Ed.
1
Langer, G. (2020, July 21). ABC news. Retrieved from <https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/63-supportblack-lives-matter-recognition-discrimination-jumps/story?id=71779435>.
2
Ebert, J. (2020, October 14). Illinois prison population decreased by 18 percent since start of pandemic.
Retrieved from <https://thedailyline.net/chicago/10/14/2020/illinois-prison-population-decreased-by-18-percentsince-start-of-pandemic/>.
*- 171 - 171 -metro areas, the need for services will only increase. 3 Without vital support services, thepandemic will exacerbate human suffering and recidivism rates.
However, the current state of existing support services is dire. In early 2020 theCouncil of State Governments conducted a survey of community-based service providers
and found that only 30 per cent of re-entry service providers were operating at full capacity
during the rise of the pandemic in the first quarter of the year. 4 Concurrently, the survey
found that “significant numbers” of programmes such as “in-reach services in jails andprisons, educational support in the community, and employment services” had largely
ceased functioning altogether. 5 In addition, nearly 20 per cent of organizations hadreported layoffs, with more expected in the future. 6 The deficiencies of the current nonprofit system were made starkly clear, reliant as it is on piecemeal acquisition of resources
via a cumbersome and unpredictable grant system. As the economy stumbled, andresources began to run dry the effect on non-profits and small community-basedorganizations quickly led to the shuttering of many agencies.
It is imperative that people re-entering their communities from incarceration berecognized as being among the most vulnerable members of society. With the economic
fallout of the pandemic, it is certain that local, state and federal budgets will be
constrained, meaning those most vulnerable will bear the brunt of the effects. The
challenges people impacted by mass incarceration face are numerous and deep, and theinequities being revealed by the pandemic will only be deepened without aggressive,proactive action. We must acknowledge the existence of these inequities engage in areconciliation process to begin to repair the harm.
This report discusses the ways re-entry is directly tied to a wide range ofsocioeconomic problems faced by people impacted by mass incarceration, each with
their own set of bureaucratic, social and financial obstacles. A discussion of the social
determinants of health displays the complexity of re-entry, challenging the traditionalview of addressing “crime” and “recidivism” as merely bad choices or any number ofoutmoded versions of cultural blame or deficiency theory. 7 By viewing the issue of reentry through a holistic lens and appreciating the complexity and unique experiences ofpeople with records, it becomes clear that the issues we are facing are not as simple as“crime” or “violence”, but a complex web of interrelated socioeconomic inequities
embedded within much of the fabric of America.
Ultimately, the story of re-entry is one of cyclical poverty, racism, systemicanachronisms, inequity, and all too often, despair. However, more than ever communities
are coming together to solve these issues, collaborating closely to find innovative
solutions to historically entrenched problems. To continue this work, communities need
Illinois Dept. of Employment Security. (2020). Illinois Still Impacted by COVID-19 Pandemic,
Unemployment Rates Up Compared to Last Year. (2020). Retrieved from<https://www2.illinois.gov/ides/SitePages/NewsArticleDisplay.aspx?NewsID=518>.
4
The Council of State Governments (CSG) Justice Center. (2020). Survey Shows Reentry Services Halting
Across U.S. (2020, June 25). Retrieved from <https://csgjusticecenter.org/survey-shows-reentry-serviceshalting-across-u-s/>.
5
Ibid.
6
Ibid.
7
“Cultural deficiency” refers to “the perspective that minority group members are different because theirculture is deficient in important ways from the dominant majority group”. Salkind, N. J. (2008). Cultural
deficit model. In Encyclopedia of educational psychology (Vol. 1, pp. 217-217). SAGE Publications, Inc.
3

- 172 - 172 -long-term, sustained investment.
This report, in discussing the sheer numbers of people with records and the challenges
they face, argues that the services required for successful re-entry is among the mostimportant areas of social investment. As this report will show, there is a desperate need for
an effective and efficient re-entry infrastructure geared towards increasing quality of lifeand reducing recidivism and violence. By addressing the challenges discussed within thisreport policymakers and community activists can take a bold step towards ending the cycleof poverty that all too often leads individuals back to crime and violence. Without sustainedand dedicated support systems, we will see more homelessness, more poverty, more
desperation, more crime and ultimately more violence within our communities. Recent
research by the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority has found a direct
relationship between criminal offending and victimization by homicide in Illinois,
particularly in Cook County. Between 2015 and 2016, 40 per cent of suicide victims had
an arrest record and 3 per cent had a prior incarceration, while 77 per cent of homicide
victims had a prior arrest and 31 per cent had been previously incarcerated. 8 These chilling
statistics paint a stark picture. Holistic re-entry services are a means of reducing violencein our communities.
Considering the current fiscal state of the United States and the State of Illinois it is
now more critical than ever that we act decisively and proactively to get in front of the
problem by investing the resources required to provide a smooth transition back into society
for individuals exiting incarceration.
Currently, relevant agencies are siloed in a range of service sectors, including healthand behavioural health, housing and homelessness, employment, criminal justice, family,
and social services, etc. As is, re-entry is made up of a hodgepodge of policies andprogrammes. The allocation of an insufficient amount of funds to re-entry efforts has
resulted in an infrastructure inadequate to the task of facilitating the successful re-entry of
the formerly incarcerated. Indeed, a report by the Collateral Consequences Resource
Center (CCRC) states “there is nothing coordinated about the current system.” 9 Rather,
this lack of a unified response is attributable to a policy approach that devolves
responsibility to municipalities and non-profit agencies that currently lack the sustained,
reliable resources required to provide efficient, coordinated, mid-to-long-term responses.
What is required by the re-entry, and workforce development sectors is an integrated
tool that pulls together “the best thinking about reducing recidivism and improving job
placement and retention to guide correctional supervision and the provision of communitybased services”. 10 Within this, a “multidimensional approach that considers the inmatesthemselves along with the broader social context…could incorporate assistance with

Prior Criminal Justice Involvement of Persons Experiencing Violent Deaths in Illinois. (2020). Illinois
Criminal Justice Information Authority. Retrieved from <https://icjia.illinois.gov/researchhub/articles/priorcriminal-justice-involvement-of-persons-experiencing-violent-deaths-in-illinois>.
9
Love, M., & Schlussel, D. (2020, September 8). "The Many Roads to Reintegration": A 50-state report onlaws restoring rights and opportunities. Retrieved from <https://ccresourcecenter.org/2020/09/08/the-manyroads-to-reintegration-a-national-survey-of-restoration-law/>.
10
Duran, L. (2013). Integrated Reentry and Employment Strategies: Reducing Recidivism and Promoting
Job Readiness. Retrieved from <https://nicic.gov/integrated-reentry-and-employment-strategies-reducingrecidivism-and-promoting-job-readiness>.
8- 173 - 173 -housing and job training for the soon-to-be-released, to smooth their transition. 11 This
report provides background context specifically related to the following subjects: processof re-entry; housing; workforce development and employment; health (physical and mental
health, as well as substance abuse); and criminal justice reform.
By reviewing existing studies, reports and the best available data and comparing withthe results of Safer’s own qualitative investigations and institutional experience, this reportattempts to provide a more systematic understanding of the complexities and problems
attendant with prisoner re-entry as both concept and practice, taking into consideration thecritical need for a holistic continuum of services spanning pre- and post-release fromincarceration. In addition to existing research, this report is informed by oral histories
conducted by Safer staff with people directly impacted by mass incarceration. Oral History
is a method used by social scientists to help inform the context of a certain historical event
using the perspective of those who lived through it. Everyone's story is unique, and while
no person’s story falls neatly into any one clear category these rich narratives illustrate thecomplexity of re-entry in Chicago and the way these obstacles interweave and cascade,rendering re-entry a complex and stressful process that requires a dedicated and holistic setof services.
In Illinois, the benefits to sufficiently supporting holistic re-entry services will becounted both in dollars and in lives. The sheer numbers of people impacted by mass
incarceration is nothing short of a crisis. With over 3.3 million Illinoisans arrested orconvicted of a crime since 1979 12 and 54 per cent of these individuals expected to havereturned to Chicago, 13 it is reasonable to presume that at a minimum 1,782,000 individuals
with records currently reside within Chicago. The Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory
Council (SPAC) calculates that the cost of each individual reconviction costs taxpayers anaverage of $151,662, 14 and considering that 17 per cent of formerly incarcerated people
will reoffend within one year while 43 per cent will reoffend within three years, 15 the cost
to Illinois taxpayers could reach $13 billion by 2023. 16 The Council estimates that reducing
recidivism by a mere percentage point could potentially save the state of Illinois $10
million annually. This takes on a particular resonance in the midst of a continuing
pandemic and a devastated economy.
At the national level, the cascading costs of imprisonment are passed along from theindividual to the family and on to the community, the state and ultimately the nation.
Buckner and Barber (2016) estimate that nationally the cost related to shutting people with
11

Weidner, R. R., & Schultz, J. (2019). Examining the relationship between U.S. incarceration rates andpopulation health at the county level. SSM - Population Health, 9, 100466.
doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100466
12
Heartland Alliance 2020 Poverty Report. (2020). Retrieved from<https://www.heartlandalliance.org/heartland-alliance-2020-poverty-report/>.
13
Visher, C., & Farrell, J. (2005). Chicago Communities and Prisoner Reentry. PsycEXTRA Dataset.
doi:10.1037/e720022011-001
14
Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council. (2018). Illinois Results First: The High Cost of Recidivism
2018 Report. Retrieved from <https://spac.illinois.gov/publications/cost-benefit-analysis/high-cost-ofrecidivism-2018>.
15
Lyon, E. (2019). Illinois Calculates the High Costs of Recidivism. Retrieved from<https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2019/feb/5/illinois-calculates-high-costs-recidivism/>.
16
Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council. (2018). Illinois Results First: The High Cost of Recidivism
2018 Report. Retrieved from <https://spac.illinois.gov/publications/cost-benefit-analysis/high-cost-ofrecidivism-2018>.

- 174 - 174 -records out of the economy equates to an annual GDP loss of between $78-87 billion. In
2008, job discrimination against ex-offenders in the U.S. alone removed 1.5 to 1.7 million
workers from the labour market, leading to a productivity loss of $57-65 billion dollars thatyear (Bucknor and Barber, 2016; National Conference on State Legislatures, 2018).
Aside from loss of productivity and purchasing power, according to Guyer, Bachrach
and Shine (2015) 4.2 per cent of adults who have had contact with the criminal justicesystem are accountable for an estimated 7.2 per cent of hospital costs and 8.5 per cent ofemergency department expenditures. Furthermore, considering the heavy interplay
between incarceration and homelessness, the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness
estimates that each individual suffering from chronic homelessness costs the public
between $30,000 to $50,000 per year in associated costs. Conversely, research from
Portland State University found that each dollar invested in assisting justice-involved
homeless individuals results in a savings of $13.
The costs above are well documented, yet when one attempts to investigate the true
numbers of individuals with criminal records in the United States, it becomes more difficult
to tease out the specifics. This difficulty is replicated at the state level, making estimationsdifficult though not impossible. Despite these challenges, attempts to calculate the numbers
are currently being made, and the work that has become available demonstrates that the
sheer numbers of residents of Illinois, Cook County, and Chicago with criminal records
are staggering, and considering the myriad challenges people attempting to re-enter society
from incarceration face, the issue amounts to no less than a public emergency.
II. THE STATE OF RE-ENTRY IN ILLINOIS: A LOOK AT THE NUMBERS
According to the Prison Policy Initiative, within the American criminal justice system
there are approximately 2.3 million people incarcerated within 1,833 state prisons, 110
federal prisons, 1,772 juvenile correctional facilities, 3,134 local jails, 218 immigration
detention facilities, and 80 Indian Country jails. 17 More than 600,000 Americans are
released from prisons each year, and the number of people who enter and leave jails eachyear has been estimated at 9 million. 18 In fact, if all Americans with arrest records werecombined into a single nation it would be the world’s 18th largest country. Estimates showthat by age 23 nearly 33 per cent of Americans will have an arrest record, and Bucknor andBarber contend that in the U.S., one-third of the adult population are subject to thecollateral consequences of involvement with the criminal justice system. 19 In 2020, theracial disparities within the criminal justice system are widely known, yet still Black people
are incarcerated in state and federal prisons at a rate almost six times that of whites, andnearly double the rate for “Hispanics”. 20 In fact, the disparity in arrest rates is so systemic
Wagner, W. (2020). Mass Incarceration: The Whole Pie 2020. Retrieved from<https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/pie2020.html>.
18
Leverentz, A. M., Chen, E. Y., Christian, J., & Maruna, S. (2020). Beyond recidivism: New approaches toresearch on prisoner reentry and reintegration. New York: New York University Press.
19
Buckner, C., & Barber, A. (2020, February 6). The Price We Pay: Economic Costs of Barriers to
Employment for Former Prisoners and People Convicted of Felonies. Retrieved from<https://cepr.net/report/the-price-we-pay-economic-costs-of-barriers-to-employment-for-former-prisonersand-people-convicted-of-felonies/>.
20
Weidner, R. R., & Schultz, J. (2019). Examining the relationship between U.S. incarceration rates andpopulation health at the county level. SSM - Population Health, 9, 100466.
doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100466.
17- 175 - 175 -that midlife physical health disparities found to exist along racial lines are due primarily
to disproportionate rates of incarceration. 21 “Over the past quarter century, there has beena profound change in the involvement of women within the criminal justice system. Thisis the result of more expansive law enforcement efforts, stiffer drug sentencing laws, andpost-conviction barriers to re-entry that uniquely affect women.” 22
The re-entry crisis in Illinois holds astounding economic and psychologicalconsequences for impacted individuals, their families and the larger communities. There
are over 3.3 million Illinoisans 23 and over 1.7 million individuals with arrest and conviction
records in Chicago, Cook County, with an average of 54 per cent of Illinois residents
returning from IDOC facilities to Chicago-Cook County every year between 2005 and2019. 24 The Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council (SPAC) calculates that the costof each individual reconviction costs taxpayers an average of $151,662. 25 Considering that
17 per cent of formerly incarcerated people will reoffend within one year while 43 per centwill reoffend within three years, the cost to Illinois taxpayers could reach $13 billion by2023. 26
As in all fields, gender inequities are of great significance within issues related to mass
incarceration. Despite national trends towards declining incarceration rates, nearly all of
the decrease in the number of people in state prisons since 2009 has been among men, withwomen’s prisons actually growing by 834 per cent over the past 40 years, doubling the rateof men over the same period. 27 This will be critical work, as evidence shows that once
released from incarceration the collateral consequences of having a record make finding
employment, housing and financial support even more difficult for women. 28 As stated in
The Sentencing Project’s fact sheet Incarcerated Women and Girls, “Over the past quarter
century, there has been a profound change in the involvement of women within the criminal
justice system. This is the result of more expansive law enforcement efforts, stiffer drug
sentencing laws, and post-conviction barriers to re-entry that uniquely affect women.” 29This is a critical factor to keep in mind throughout this report, and while this work wishes
to draw attention to the challenges specifically faced by women, the topic will be more
fully investigated in future research
That the United States’ system of mass incarceration is institutionally racist is well

Ibid.
Hill, H. (2019, July 10). Incarcerated Women and Girls. Retrieved
from <https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/incarcerated-women-and-girls/>.
23
Heartland Alliance 2020 Poverty Report. (2020). Retrieved from<https://www.heartlandalliance.org/heartland-alliance-2020-poverty-report/>.
24
Illinois Department of Corrections, “Annual Reports,” www.illinois.gov (Illinois Department ofCorrections), accessed 20 September 2020,<https://www2.illinois.gov/idoc/reportsandstatistics/Pages/AnnualReports.aspx>.
25
Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council. (2018). Illinois Results First: The High Cost of Recidivism
2018 Report. Retrieved from <https://spac.illinois.gov/publications/cost-benefit-analysis/high-cost-ofrecidivism-2018>.
26
Ibid.
27
Prison Policy Initiative, P. (2018, January 9). The Gender Divide: Tracking women's state prison growth.
Retrieved from <https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/women_overtime.html>.
28
Ibid.
29
Hill, H. (2019, July 10). Incarcerated Women and Girls. Retrieved from<https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/incarcerated-women-and-girls/>.
21
22- 176 - 176 -documented, 30 yet there remains little political will to alleviate the structural issues thathave plagued our communities for hundreds of years. Across the United States, Black
people and people of colour are arrested at higher rates than that of whites. In fact, Black
people are incarcerated in state prisons at rates five times higher than those of white
people. 31 This is perhaps best exemplified by the fact that while drug use rates areapproximately the same among white and Black people, Black people are almost four times
as likely to be arrested for a drug offence as white people. 32 This disparity has been so
consistent that research shows that the racial disparities in incarceration cannot be
explained by crime rates alone, and point toward social factors. 33 This is corroborated by
the fact that serious crimes such as homicide do not show the same racial disparities thatare apparent for more minor crimes such as those related to drugs. 34 In fact, the racialdisparities increase the further along the legal process an individual moves. 35 This suggests
biased processes inherent within the system itself.
According to recent research presented by the Heartland Alliance within their 2020
Poverty Report, since 1979 at least 3.3 million adults within Illinois have been arrested orconvicted of a crime (904,729 women and 2,314,877 men). 36 Of these arrests, 1.2 million
resulted in convictions (36.7%), 602,201 of which were felony convictions (18.5%). 37
Arrest and conviction numbers show that Black people are disproportionally represented
in Illinois. For example, while Black people make up only 13.8 per cent of Illinois’ adult
population, they make up 34.9 per cent of the individuals convicted of crimes overall, and45.3 per cent of those convicted of felonies. 38 The disparity is clear when the numbers arecompared against arrest rates for white people. While white people make up 73.2 per centof Illinois' adult population, they only account for 64.4 per cent of criminal convictions, aswell as only 47.8 per cent of those convicted of felonies. 39
Numbers for people exiting IDOC facilities for the past 15 years have been on average
32,018 (median: 30,639). 40 Those who have been mandated to stay in Illinois for parole
have been on average 28,799 (median: 28,043). 41 As of September 2020, there wereapproximately 31,010 people in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections. 42
This was down from a total of 32,500 in June 2020, which is indicative of a gradualdecrease from 36,900 in March 2020 resulting from the initiation of early release at the
Balko, R. (2020, June 10). Opinion | “There's overwhelming evidence that the criminal justice system isracist. Here’s the proof.” Retrieved from<https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/opinions/systemic-racism-police-evidence-criminaljustice-system/>.
31
Nellis, A., & Hill, H. (2019, January 10). The Color of Justice: Racial and Ethnic Disparity in State
Prisons. Retrievedfrom <https://www.sentencingproject.org/publications/color-of-justice-racial-and-ethnicdisparity-in-state-prisons/>.
32
Ibid.
33
Ibid.
34
Ibid.
35
Ibid.
36
Heartland Alliance 2020 Poverty Report. (2020). Retrieved from<https://www.heartlandalliance.org/heartland- alliance-2020-poverty-report/>.
37
Ibid.
38
Ibid.
39
Ibid.
40
Illinois Department of Corrections Prison Population Data Sets.
<https://www2.illinois.gov/idoc/reportsandstatistics/Pages/Prison-Population-Data-Sets.aspx>.
41
Ibid.
42
Ibid.
30

- 177 - 177 -beginning of the Covid-19 quarantine period. 43
Cook County is the largest county in Illinois and one of the largest in the United Stateswith an estimated 5,277,575 residents in 2016. 44 Of those on parole, 15,555 return to Cook
County on average (median: 15,215) each year. 45 Chicago is by far the largest city in Cook
County, accounting for 52 per cent (2,714,017) of the entire population in 2016. Based onarrest data for the City of Chicago, between 2001 and 2019, there was a total of 1,943,597
arrests in Chicago according to the City of Chicago’s Data Portal. Unfortunately, there is
no way to track the portion of arrestees who have never been arrested; however, as
discussed above it is feasible that at least 1,782,000 Chicagoans have arrest or conviction
records. Based on IDOC’s Prison Population Data Set for 31 December 2019, the numberof inmates with exits planned for 2020 was 12,116 (10,329 to be released to parole
supervision plus 1,787 whose sentence is scheduled to be discharged during 2020).
However, considering the return rate of 35 per cent, for the immediate future this suggests
approximately 4,240 former inmates would return to Chicago during 2020 (n.d.). However,this estimation was developed prior to the rise of the Covid-19 pandemic, and theacceleration of early release means that this number will increase for so long as the
pandemic maintains its momentum. Research has shown that as recently as 2019 the Cityof Chicago was home to 35 per cent of returning residents released from Illinois state
prisons. 46 Of these, nearly all returned to six of the Chicago’s 77 Community Areas: Austin,
North Lawndale, East Garfield Park, West Englewood, Humboldt Park, and Englewood. 47
Given the scope of the personal and financial costs of mass incarceration within Illinois,
it has become evident during the pandemic that in order to understand the true impact ofmass incarceration upon individuals, family and society there must be a sustained effort tosupport and fund community-based applied research efforts. Within this, research efforts
that are based in an equitable collaboration between community-based organizations andresearch institutions will go a long way in finding the most effective means of organizing
and delivering critical services.
III. SOCIAL DETERMINANTS OF HEALTH AND RECIDIVISM
A conversation about the social determinants of health can help us to better understandthe long-term effects of mass incarceration on individuals. The United States Office of
Disease Prevention and Health Promotion describes the social determinants of health as“conditions in the environments in which people are born, live, learn, work, play, worship,
and age that affect a wide range of health, functioning, and quality-of-life outcomes andrisks”. 48 In consideration of this, Dr. Keesha M. Middlemass defines a felony conviction
as a “social disability”, explaining that those convicted of felonies:
Ibid.
Loyola University Center for Criminal Justice Research: Cook County’s Criminal Justice System: Trends
and Issues Report: 2nd Edition. (2019, November). Retrieved from<https://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/ccj/pdfs/CookCountyTrendsandIssuesReportNovember2019.pdf>.
45
Illinois Department of Corrections Prison Population Data Sets.
<https://www2.illinois.gov/idoc/reportsandstatistics/Pages/Prison-Population-Data-Sets.aspx>.
46
Carson, E. A. (n.d.). Bureau of Justice Statistics: Prisoners in 2018. Retrieved from<https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail&amp;iid=6846>.
47
Ibid.
48
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Social Determinants of Health. Retrieved from<https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-of-health>.
43
44- 178 - 178 -are legally disabled and incapacitated which limits their ability to engage with andin society. Once someone is convicted of a felony, his or her conviction carries
an unexamined power over his or her body. When felons exit prison, society
stigmatizes, discredits, and fears them, which results in a societal exclusion thatis more complete than for adults living with a disability. 49
Having a record, regardless of having “served one’s sentence,” condemns people to a
lifetime of hardship by systematically negatively impacting the primary social determinantsof quality of life, like safe housing, health care, education, sustainable job opportunities,
job trainings, social supports, exposure to violence and the associated effects ofconcentrated poverty. 50
A substantial body of research has established that there are a common set ofsocioeconomic obstacles to re-entry. These are:•Housing insecurity caused by a “lack of access to affordable housing and housing
discrimination”;•

Unemployment, resulting from “lack of education and skills, lack of experience”,
discrimination and stigma from incarceration”;•

Substance abuse disorder. 51

Navigating the systems that surround these social determinants are made infinitely
more complex when one has an arrest record or conviction, which can easily result in acycle of poverty and recidivism that directly impacts family and in turn the greatercommunity. Research shows that the close quarters involved with incarceration has
negative effects on community-level social dynamics as well as public safety and healthdisparities. 52 The concentration of justice-impacted individuals can lead towards a
stigmatization of the community, leading towards the criminalization of the medicallyunderserved, spiralling educational achievement gaps and family dissolution as children
lose parental support, both emotional and financial. 53 High rates of incarceration canbecome “criminogenic rather than deterrent, increasing the likelihood of victimization andassociated stressors among members of high-incarceration communities”. 54 In fact,
research shows that mass imprisonment as a national policy may be harming the physicalhealth of black women in particular by increasing the likelihood of obesity, hypertension,and cardiovascular disease, while the work of Wildeman (2012b) found that incarceration
was correlated with substantially increasing the black–white life expectancy gap. 55
Keesha M. Middlemass, Convicted and Condemned: The Politics and Policies of Prisoner Reentry (NewYork: New York University Press, 2017).
50
Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. (n.d.). Social Determinants of Health. Retrieved from<https://www.healthypeople.gov/2020/topics-objectives/topic/social-determinants-of-health>.
51
Jacobs L.A., Katcher K., Krummenacher P., Tonnesen S. (2017) Root & Rebound: An Innovative
Program Paints the Reentry Landscape. In: Stojkovic S. (eds) Prisoner Reentry. Palgrave Macmillan, NewYork.
52
Weidner, R. R., & Schultz, J. (2019). Examining the relationship between U.S. incarceration rates andpopulation health at the county level. SSM – Population Health, 9, 100466.
doi:10.1016/j.ssmph.2019.100466
53
Ibid.
54
Ibid.
55
Ibid.
49

- 179 - 179 -Individuals who frequently encounter crisis systems, such as shelters, hospitals, andjails, are more likely to experience negative social determinants of health. 56 A 2015 study
by the Prison Policy Initiative found that poverty has a direct correlation to involvement in
the justice system. The study found that prior to incarceration incarcerated people had a
median annual income 43 per cent lower than non-incarcerated individuals from similarcohorts. 57 Within the study, this factor stood true across gender, race and ethnicity, drawing
a direct line between poverty and negative involvement in the justice system. It is importantthat issues facing re-entry populations and their families and communities be addressed
through a concerted policy and programmatic focus that also requires an examination of
the root causes of poverty across the state.
For instance, research shows that people with incomes less than 150 per cent of thefederal poverty guidelines are 15 times more likely to be charged with a felony than people
with incomes greater than 150 per cent of the federal poverty level. 58 In other words, thepoorer one is the more likely to be arrested. Furthermore, at least 33 per cent of incarcerated
individuals fall under the poverty line at the time of arrest. 59 Poverty is not merely
associated with a standard of living but contributes directly to future choices. Research has
shown that poverty has a significant effect on cognitive functioning, directly affecting
decision-making and the setting of priorities. 60
Any successful re-entry model must address the six outcomes (health, education,
employment, housing, substance use and recidivism) of greatest importance to the re-entry
population. 61 Yet, in impoverished and oppressed communities “housing, employment andeducational opportunities, transportation infrastructure, and health care services areinaccessible, limited, or nonexistent”. 62 Therefore, individuals from low-income families
and neighbourhoods are disproportionately impacted by the challenges individuals faceupon re-entry.
Despite this available information, in an analysis of data from the Serious and Violent
Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) evaluation, Gill and Wilson discovered that less thanhalf of the participants obtained the services they required upon re-entry. 63 This is due inpart to the lack of “specificity in matching services to individuals’ unique risk and needprofiles”. 64 As of now, there is no triage, no case management, and therefore no organizedsystem within which people re-entering society from incarceration can participate in orderto access the variety of services available that can prove critical in ensuring successful reentry. The absence of an existing system to facilitate re-entry can be overcome with the
Ibid.
Prison Policy Initiative. Prisons of Poverty: Uncovering the pre-incarceration incomes of the imprisoned.
(2015, July 9). Retrieved from https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/income.html.
58
Texas Criminal Justice Coalition- Return to Nowhere: The Revolving Door Between Incarceration andHomelessness. (2019, February). Retrieved from<https://www.texascjc.org/system/files/publications/Return%20to%20Nowhere%20The%20Revolving%20
Door%20Between%20Incarceration%20and%20Homelessness.pdf>.
59
Ibid.
60
Ibid.
61
Washington State Institute for Public Policy Benefit-Cost Results (2019). Retrieved from<https://www.wsipp.wa.gov/BenefitCost>.
62
Jonson, C. L., & Cullen, F. T. (2015). Prisoner Reentry Programs. Crime and Justice, 44(1), 517-575.
doi:10.1086/681554
63
Gill, Charlotte, Wilson, David B. Improving the success of reentry programs: Identifying the impact ofservice- need fit on recidivism. Criminal Justice and Behavior. 44, (3), 336-359.
64
Ibid.
56
57

- 180 - 180 -organization and coordination of existing agencies and institutions and the provision of
sufficient and reliable resources required to ensure the maintenance and improvement ofthat system. The following sections analyse the three main socioeconomic obstacles for
successful re-entry – housing insecurity, economic mobility and health – compounded withthe barriers presented by the criminal legal system, and offers the PEERR Model℠, 65
designed by Safer Foundation as a response to the wave of early releases from prisons inthe state of Illinois throughout the pandemic, as a solution to address these obstacles.
A. Housing
Policy and practice in public housing and the private housing markets discriminate
against returning residents and create a significant social disability that prevents them fromsuccessfully reintegrating into community. Access to safe and secure housing is considered
fundamental to successful re-entry upon release from incarceration, yet each year
approximately 50,000 Americans enter homeless shelters directly upon release fromcorrectional facilities. 66 For many, family or friends provide the first option for housing
after release from a correctional institution. For those who cannot rely on families orfriends for housing, even at least temporarily, the other options are transitional housing,homeless shelters, hotel or motels, and homelessness. 67 The necessity for housing isparticularly critical for the parolee population because it affords stability for compliancewith requirements of release, serves as a base for service provision and facilitatescommunity integration. 68
The importance of stable transitional housing is made evident by the statistics. In thefirst national estimates of homelessness among the previously incarcerated, the Prison
Policy Initiative found that formerly incarcerated individuals are almost 10 times more
likely to be homeless than the general public”; almost 20 per cent of single homeless adults
have been previously incarcerated; 15 per cent of incarcerated people experience
homelessness in the year prior to being incarcerated; people who have been incarcerated
just once become homeless at a rate nearly seven times higher than the general public while
those who have been incarcerated more than once have rates of homelessness 13 times
higher than the general public. 69 Furthermore, those without access to stable or reliablehousing are more than twice as likely to commit additional crimes when compared to thosewith access to housing. 70 Homeless youth are particularly vulnerable to violence, including
victimization and perpetration of violent behaviours according to recent research
conducted across seven U.S. cities that found 45 per cent of homeless young adults had
experienced direct or indirect gun violence, while 17 per cent had perpetrated gun violence
themselves. 71
Video recording of PEERR℠ Panel discussion at Safer Foundation’s CARRE Conference (October2020).
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYoMmD9jHkY&feature=emb_title>.
66
Cortes, K., & Rogers, S. (2010). Reentry Housing Options: The Policymakers' Guide. Council of State
Governments.
67
Couloute, L. (2018, August). Nowhere to Go: Homelessness among formerly incarcerated people.
68
Kras KR, Pleggenkuhle B, Huebner BM. (2016). A New Way of Doing Time on the Outside: Sex
Offenders' Pathways In and Out of a Transitional Housing Facility. Int J Offender Ther Comp Criminol.
69
Ibid.
70
Tran-Leung, M. (2015). When Discretion Means Denial. Sargent Shriver National Center on Poverty
Law.
71
Hsu HT, Fulginiti A, Petering R, Barman-Adhikari A, Maria DS, Shelton J, Bender K, Narendorf S,
Ferguson K. Firearm Violence Exposure and Suicidal Ideation Among Young Adults Experiencing
Homelessness. J Adolesc Health. 2020 Aug;67(2):286-289.
65- 181 - 181 -The interplay of homelessness and incarceration is even more stark when mental healthissues are taken into consideration, as 40 per cent of incarcerated respondents in a national
survey reported use of mental health services and/or medications for a mental illness,
which is a rate twice that found among incarcerated individuals without a history ofhomelessness. 72 A study conducted by the Department of Justice found that of incarcerated
individuals reporting a mental health disorder, 31 per cent had major depressive disorder,
25 per cent had bipolar disorder, 18 per cent had an anxiety disorder and 16 per cent had
PTSD. 73
As is often the case, the issues related to incarceration, homelessness and mental health
hit women the hardest. A study by the Marshall Project found that 66 per cent ofincarcerated women reported having a history of mental illness, while 20 per cent reported
recently experiencing psychological distress while in prison. 74 Considering that formerly
incarcerated women are more likely to be homeless than formerly incarcerated men, thecycle of homelessness and incarceration is exacerbated by the higher prevalence of mental
health issues reported by incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women. 75
The increasing criminalization of homelessness coupled with the difficulty in finding
consistent mental health resources has created a near hopeless situation, as homelesspeople are frequently arrested for minor crimes directly related to their condition. The
National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty describes the criminalization ofhomelessness as “when law enforcement threatens or punishes homeless people for doing
things in public such as sleeping, resting, sheltering oneself, asking for donations, or
simply existing in public place”. 76 A cycle of criminalization and homelessness means thatpeople in poverty find it nearly impossible to extricate themselves, facing an increased riskof reincarceration. This risk is compounded by the inherent dangers of sleeping outdoors,
contributing toward difficulty in complying with probation requirements (lack of a stableaddress); difficulty accessing reliable transportation in order to meet supervision
requirements; and loss or theft of personal items, such as cell phones, due to sleeping roughor in crowded shelters. 77 These issues are particularly salient in Illinois.
Many of the clients 78 that come through Safer Foundation experience homelessness
after incarceration. One Safer Foundation client, Liam, had been in and out of incarceration
since he was 14, as a ward of the Department of Child & Family Services (DCFS) of theState of Illinois. He explains how his record forced him into homelessness and is making
it hard to escape poverty:
Texas Criminal Justice Coalition- Return to Nowhere: The Revolving Door Between Incarceration andHomelessness. (2019, February). Retrieved from<https://www.texascjc.org/system/files/publications/Return%20to%20Nowhere%20The%20Revolving%20
Door%20Between%20Incarceration%20and%20Homelessness.pdf>.
73
Bronson, J., & Berzofsky, M. (2017). Indicators of Mental Health Problems Reported by Prisoners.
Retrieved from <https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/imhprpji1112.pdf>.
74
Equal Justice Initiative. (2019). More Incarcerated Women than Men Report Mental Health Problems.
(2019, October 16). Retrieved from <https://eji.org/news/more-incarcerated-women-report-mental-healthproblems/ >.
75
Couloute, L. (2018, August). Nowhere to Go: Homelessness among formerly incarcerated people.
76
National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. (2019). Housing not handcuffs - Ending the
Criminalization of Homelessness in U.S. Cities.
77
Texas Criminal Justice Coalition- Return to Nowhere: The Revolving Door Between Incarceration andHomelessness. (2019).
78
All qualitative interviews were conducted by Christian Flores.
72- 182 - 182 -I've never had a house at any point after DCFS. At one point, I stayed at hotels. I
was paying the equivalent of rent for a one bedroom for essentially a space nolarger than the cell I had in jail. I had no microwave. No refrigerator. No oven.
Just a bathroom in the hotel. After spending $800 a month for that space, for acouple months, I decided I could save money and either bunk up with a friend or[live on the streets] and save money. Right now, I'm staying with a friend on theSouth Side and my IT job is up North. There are only certain times I can be at thehouse. It affects my ability to get to and from work.
Although Liam has received several support services from Safer Foundation, including
finding a job with an IT firm, his inability to access affordable housing is prohibitive andthreatens the sustainability of his job. The lack of access to affordable housing makes it
difficult to survive even with a basic income. While Safer Foundation can connect people
like Liam to other organizations that work more directly with transitional housing andhomelessness, the lack of a formalized system or process makes it difficult for clients tonavigate on their own. People with records often need to find stopgap solutions, like Liam
did with cheap hotels and friends, because transitional housing options are in high demandwith little space.
The housing options that most people who experience incarceration are often
unsustainable. A survey of 323 Safer Foundation clients found that 75 per cent of clients
who were released between March and June of 2020 went home to family or friends. 79
While this may be an initial solution, these living arrangements are often short lived. Evan,
another Safer Foundation client, experienced the difficulty of finding sustainable housing
after returning from prison. While he was initially able to stay with family, he explains thechallenges:
It was really tough because who wants a ‘criminal’ living [with them]? You don't
have money to go anywhere really. Like I have family that lives in Joliet, but they
don't want you to be living there. They will because they're family. But it's only
gonna be so long you're gonna be able to be on that couch, especially in the suburbs
without a car and I didn't have a license... I still don't.
The hostility that Evan felt at home led him back to the streets, where old friends led
him back to old habits of substance abuse. Greg was incarcerated again and had to findother living arrangements upon return to his community. This time, he had opted to attempt
one of the transitional housing opportunities – typically referred to as a “halfway house” –that was promoted by the penitentiary.
However, that option was another gateway to recidivism:
I had to go to a halfway house [that] was so nasty and dirty. There were bed bugs
all over the place. There was people smoking crack and shooting heroine. My
roommate [overdosed] like four times. And this is the place that came to the prison
and told us to come there because they were offering us money. They offered us like
$500 if we went there and so everybody was going there and it was literally
disgusting. And like those are sanctioned places. I saw the flyer at the prison for
Otto, Barbara; Flores, Christian. “Prison Emergency Early Release Response (PEERR) 2020 Report.”
Safer Foundation; Smart Policy Works. October 2020. p. 22.

79- 183 - 183 -this place and I went there. So it's like, are you expecting me not drink in this crap?
I needed a drink. It was a breeding ground to go back to prison. How can you takesomeone who was locked up and in prison all this time and then put them at a
halfway house where everyone is drinking, everyone is doing drugs, maybe one
person is working and expect that person to not go back, to not get involved in allof that. Like, that is a tough pill to swallow. I don't see very many people not goingback to those old behaviours that sent them to prison, which is why I got that parole
violation. I went back to prison. Not blaming it on anybody else. But I didn’t haveanything positive.
Safer Foundation found that (IDOC) contracted “halfway houses” – many which werealso licensed as recovery homes – were the second most common option for the 323 clientssurveyed, with 20 per cent reporting that they were released to a “halfway house.” 80 Like
Evan, many clients express that these homes felt like hostile environments for recovery.
Most survey participants who reunited with family reported having more access to basic
needs and financial support than those returning to halfway houses.
However, home is not always a safe place to return to, especially for women. Sylvia,
for example, was released from DuPage County Jail in October of 2019, after serving 8
months for an aggravated assault case which she was found not guilty of. To be discharged,
she had to prove she had a place to go to. She explains how this stipulation forced her to go
back to an abusive relationship for housing:
I went back to a very difficult relationship which I was trying to get away from,from the beginning when I first ended up with them charges. I was in a domestic
violence relationship. I ended up catching the case because I was trying to get awayfrom that relationship. That’s how I ended up homeless, and I ended up running
into that man [who pressed charges]. Being in jail, like I said, I didn’t have myfamily. My family is in... My mother’s side of the family lives in Texas and myfather’s side of the family lives in Puerto Rico, so I really didn’t have anybody. So,
when I came out of jail, I had no choice but to come back to that person, you know,
to that relationship, and things got worse. Things got worse. It was scary, confusing.
You know, you go through all these different emotions, because sometimes you
can’t help who you love because you try to see the good in people, and then every
day they show you how horrible they are, and it’s like, I don’t know, I guess you
grow accustomed to certain things, and it makes it hard for you to get away, tobreak that cycle.
Despite national trends towards declining incarceration rates, nearly all of the decreasein the number of people in state prisons since 2009 has been among men, with women’sprisons growing by 834 per cent over the past 40 years, doubling the rate of men over thesame period. 81 This increase complements the expansion of incarceration begun with the
War on Drugs and continues today as drug convictions make up a disproportionately highpercentage of convictions for women – in particular, women of colour. 82 Like Sylvia, many
women have been increasingly caught up in the criminal legal system as a direct result of
Ibid.
Prison Policy Initiative, (2018, January 9). The Gender Divide: Tracking women's state prison growth.
Retrieved from <https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/women_overtime.html>.
82
Heartland Alliance 2020 Poverty Report. (2020). Retrieved from<https://www.heartlandalliance.org/heartland-alliance-2020-poverty-report/>.
80
81- 184 - 184 -their attempts to resist or escape from abusive situations. Many states’ policies effectively
limit women’s options when attempting to respond to gender-based abuse anddiscrimination, such as limiting women’s options for self-defence in cases of domestic
violence; criminalizing running away among abused minors; and criminalizing“misbehaviour” by school-aged girls.
To get away from that hostile home situation, Sylvia attempted to live in a shelter.
However, she explains how the shelter she stayed at was not habitable either:Due to the pandemic, they haven’t had domestic violence shelters available
because they’ve been maxed out. There have been shelters that at first I was able
to go, but right now with this pandemic has been difficult. The last shelter I was in,it was rough. It was rough, because it wasn’t a domestic violence, it was like a lastminute resort kind of thing that they opened up, so they had to put me in that shelter.
The experience wasn’t too good, for the fact of the background that I come from. It
didn’t make it easy, because it was male and female mixed, so it really made it hardin there. They had certain people on their staff during the night that really mademe feel, not only myself, but other people that were there with me, they made us
feel like our life could have been in danger, you know. They weren’t doing nobackground checks, they weren’t really doing much to uphold the safety, thewelfare of people. They were letting just people come and go, especially in thispandemic, so, yeah, it was a pretty hard experience.
The difficulty of acquiring housing is compounded when gender is factored in. Secure
housing options for women are scarce in Illinois. In Chicago, there exist 19 domestic
violence shelters for women. Outside of Chicago, there are only 47 domestic violence
shelters in the rest of the state, most of them concentrated in the suburbs of Chicago. 83 Thelack of safe housing options for women re-entering society leads many back to the streets,
unable to recover.
In the State of Illinois, research by the Metropolitan Planning Council (MPC) and
Illinois Justice Project (IJP) has shown that the lack of affordable permanent housing
options for people returning to the community means that as many as 60 per cent of
unsheltered men and 58 per cent of women report being previously incarcerated, while 40
per cent of women report being unable to pay rent. 84 Research conducted by the Chicago
Coalition for the Homeless shows that each year as many as 1,200 people are released
directly from prison to homeless shelters in Chicago, with 48 per cent of individuals living
in emergency shelters reporting a felony conviction. 85 Given the need, it is noteworthy that
the State of Illinois does not set aside specific funding to provide or support housing forthe re-entry population. 86 These estimates likely understate the problem because counting
the intermittently homeless is not a full measure of homelessness, which should include
those who have experienced homelessness for sustained periods in the last year (the causesof homelessness last longer than an individual’s last night on the street), and as such, “there<https://www.dhs.state.il.us/page.aspx?item=31886>.
Metropolitan Planning Council. (2019). Re-entry Housing Issues in Illinois: The Current Situation,
Challenges, and Possible Solutions.
85
Hamlin, M. (2017). Giving Prisoners Another Chance Through Affordable Housing. Retrieved from<https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-08-10/giving-prisoners-another-chance-throughaffordable-housing>.
86
Ibid.
83
84

- 185 - 185 -is not yet a way to calculate this fuller picture of homelessness among formerly
incarcerated people”. 87
B. Economic Mobility and Opportunity
According to the World Health Organization, poverty is the single largest determinantof health. 88 The correlation between imprisonment and poverty is starkly revealed when
considering that a National Institute of Health study found that 90 per cent of people withcriminal records were food insecure. 89 Food insecurity is one symptom of the negative
lifelong effects of mass incarceration, as people typically have poor employment outcomesfor years to come upon release from incarceration, as well as low earnings when able tofind work. This results in a weak attachment to the formal sector. 90 Research shows thatnationwide, 66 per cent of people on probation make less than $20,000 per year, andapproximately 30 per cent of people on probation make less than $10,000 per year, anamount much lower than the official poverty line. 91 In fact, Looney and Turner found thatin the first full calendar year after release, a mere 55 per cent of people with records
reported any earnings at all. 92 The work of Saluja and Rosen found that between 40 to 50
per cent of people with criminal records report no annual income quite a few years after aperiod of imprisonment while wage growth itself, even when people with records are able
to find a job, is reduced by over 30 per cent for those with criminal records. 93 Even thosethat were able to find jobs often were only able to secure low-paying jobs, with a medianannual pay of $10,090 while only 20 per cent of individuals reporting earned incomes
above $15,000. 94 These numbers look even more bleak when considering the researchfindings that imply that each additional year of incarceration diminishes earnings potential
by as much as 12 per cent and future earnings growth by as much as 30 per cent. 95
Unsurprisingly, the earning gap between men and women persists even within prisons,
where women make less than men. 96 Even after leaving prison, women typically have
Couloute, L. (2018, August). Nowhere to Go: Homelessness among formerly incarcerated people.
World Health Organization: Regional Office for Europe. (2020, November 17). Poverty and social
determinants. Retrieved from <https://www.euro.who.int/en/health-topics/environment-and-health/urbanhealth/activities/poverty-and-social-determinants>.
89
Cook County Food Access Task Force. Final Recommendations: Improving Food Access for Individuals
with Justice-System Involvement and Their Families. (2020, May 13). Retrieved
from <https://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020_CCFATF-Report.pdf>.
90
Looney, A., & Turner, N. (2018, March 14). Work and opportunity before and after incarceration.
Retrieved from <https://www.brookings.edu/research/work-and-opportunity-before-and-afterincarceration/>.
91
Finkel, M. (n.d.). New data: Low incomes – but high fees – for people on probation. Retrieved from<https://www.prisonpolicy.org/blog/2019/04/09/probation_income/>.
92
Looney, A., & Turner, N. (2018, March 14). Work and opportunity before and after incarceration.
Retrieved from <https://www.brookings.edu/research/work-and-opportunity-before-and-afterincarceration/>.
93
Saluja, S., & Rosen, H. (2019, August 22). Why public health practitioners should care about job
prospects for people with criminal records: Employment challenges and successful prison and jail reentry.
Retrieved from <https://harvardpublichealthreview.org/why-public-health-practitioners-should-care-aboutjob-prospects-for-people-with-criminal-records-employment-challenges-and-successful-prison-and-jailreentry/>.
94
Looney, A. (2018, March 20). 5 facts about prisoners and work, before and after incarceration. Retrieved
from <https://www.brookings.edu/blog/up-front/2018/03/14/5-facts-about-prisoners-and-work-before-andafter- incarceration/>.
95
Looney, A., & Turner, N. (2018, March 14). Work and opportunity before and after incarceration.
Retrieved from <https://www.brookings.edu/research/work-and-opportunity-before-and-afterincarceration/>.
96
Prison Policy Initiative, P. (2018, January 9). The Gender Divide: Tracking women's state prison growth.
Retrieved from <https://www.prisonpolicy.org/reports/women_overtime.html>.
87
88- 186 - 186 -lower wages, lower employment rates and higher rates of underemployment than men. 97
These numbers illustrate the myriad difficulties that individuals re-entering fromincarceration face, not least of which is widespread employer discrimination correlatedwith a rise in the use of criminal background checks. Data from the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) shows that between 2010 and 2014, the utilization of criminal history
records for non-criminal justice reasons increased 22 per cent, with 30 million records
provided. 98 In consideration of this, a survey conducted among employers in 2012 foundthat 69 per cent reported regular use of criminal background checks, 99 and a 2009 study
conducted by the Justice Department found that a criminal record of any kind reduces the
chances of a job offer by half, with a compounded effect being felt by Black job applicants
as compared to white applicants. 100 This is significant not only for people with convictions
on their record, but also for those Americans who merely have an arrest record. As has
been found, background checks sometimes do not make a distinction between arrests that
led to a conviction and those that did not, adding unwarranted punishment and pressure
upon people. This line of reasoning stands in contrast to available evidence, as researchshows that individuals with records are no more likely to be arrested than any other personon the street. 101
Research suggests there is an inherent racism intertwined with the system ofbackground checks by hiring entities. Indeed, white applicants who themselves haverecords actually receive more job callbacks than Black applicants, even when the Blackapplicants are equally qualified and do not even have a criminal record. 102 Compounding
unofficial, employer-based discrimination, people with records must face institutional
obstacles as well. Within Illinois, there exist 1,189 unique collateral consequence laws of
which 982 create severe obstacles to gaining employment. 103 Collateral consequence laws
can be understood as the “legal disabilities imposed by law as a result of a criminal
conviction regardless of whether a convicted individual serves any time incarcerated”. 104
These difficulties often relegate people with records to low paying jobs, contributing tomaintaining individuals and families trapped in poverty and fostering a potential spiralback towards recidivism. In fact, sustainable employment with a living wage can be an
important factor in whether an individual feels they must engage in criminal activities
simply in order to survive. Duane, La Vigne, Lynch and Reimal (2017) state that
individuals with records who earn $10 or more per hour are less likely to be imprisoned

Heartland Alliance 2020 Poverty Report. (2020). Retrieved from<https://www.heartlandalliance.org/heartland-alliance-2020-poverty-report/>.
98
Ibid.
99
Friedman, M. (2015, November 17). Just Facts: As Many Americans Have Criminal Records as College
Diplomas. Retrieved from <https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/just-facts-manyamericans-have-criminal-records-college-diplomas>.
100
Pager, D., & Western, B. (2009). Investigating Prisoner Reentry: The Impact of Conviction Status on the
Employment Prospects of Young Men. Retrieved from<https://www.ojp.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228584.pdf >.
101
Blumstein, A., & Nakamura, K. (2009). 'Redemption' in an era of widespread criminal backgroundchecks. PsycEXTRA Dataset. doi:10.1037/e516022010-003.
102
Heartland Alliance 2020 Poverty Report. (2020). Retrieved from<https://www.heartlandalliance.org/heartland-alliance-2020-poverty-report/>.
103
Ibid.
104
Collateral Consequences of Criminal Convictions Judicial Bench Book (2018, March). Retrieved from<https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/251583.pdf>.
97- 187 - 187 -again than corresponding individuals earning lower wages. 105
Considering the uphill battle those with records face in finding stable, sustainable
employment, it is not difficult to understand why some make the decision to participate in
the informal economy, potentially risking re-arrest, simply as a strategy of survival. Many
Safer Foundation clients like Evan experience this uphill battle several times. Even though
Greg was a high school graduate and had some college education, he found it nearly
impossible to find a job that paid a living wage. He explains:
The jobs [I had post-incarceration] were like... it wasn't that hard, but those weren't
really jobs. Everything was through temp services. It was like you are an employee,
but you don't have any benefits. So it was like you're just a number to them. So I
was like "Oh yeah, they're offering you ten dollars an hour." Which is, you know,
if you don't have any money coming in, ten dollars an hour sounds great. But thiscompany that referred you, they are getting $16. So, you're working to give themsix dollars, you know what I mean? There's no moving up in the company, you know,
no that's not gonna happen… But when you don't have any skills and you don't haveanything to offset those background checks and stuff like that, it's like, what kind of
job can you really get… It's a rock and a hard place. Cause when do you have timeto go to school without working?
In order to offset the stigma of his conviction, Evan needed some form of education.
Clearly, the solution is to provide alternatives as well as access to the knowledge,
experience and skills required to participate in the twenty-first century economy. It is here
where the role of in-prison educational opportunities, as well as post-release educational
programming is critical. Considering that nearly two thirds of new jobs created since 2010
require a minimum basic digital competence, 106 and the fact that many employers arehesitant to hire individuals with records, providing access to relevant educational
opportunities is a critical step in successful re-entry, and plays a direct role in attaining
sustainable employment and upward mobility. Research shows that most people who enter
correctional institutions have “limited marketable work experience, low levels of educationor vocational skills” to begin with, and as such need suitable educational opportunities todevelop knowledge and skills. 107 Harlow found that 31 per cent of offenders on probation
had not finished high school or acquired a GED compared with 18 per cent of the general
population. 108 Considering that educational attainment directly impacts job prospects, job
placement, and opportunities to advance on the job, the necessity of educational
opportunities for incarcerated individuals is paramount. Not surprisingly, access toemployment with sustainable wages also directly lessens the chances of recidivism.

Duane, M., Reimal, E., & Lynch, M. (2017). Criminal background checks and access to jobs. Retrievedfrom<https://greaterdc.urban.org/sites/default/files/publication/91456/2001377_criminal_background_checks_and_access_to_jobs_dc_case_study_1.pdf>.
106
Muro, M., Liu, S., Whiton, J., & Kulkarni, S. (2018, October 12). Digitalization and the American
workforce. Retrieved 3 March 2021, from <https://www.brookings.edu/research/digitalization-and-theamerican-workforce/>.
107
Solomon, A., Osborne, J., LoBuglio, S., Mellow, J., & Mukamal, D. (2008). Life After Lockup:
Improving reentry from jail to the community. Retrieved from<https://www.ojp.gov/library/publications/life-after-lockup-improving-reentry-jail-community>.
108
Bureau of justice statistics special report education and correctional populations (2003). US Departmentof Justice, Office of Justice Programs. Retrieved from <https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/ecp.pdf>.
105- 188 - 188 -Despite the fact that in-prison education has been proven to be a significant means of
reducing recidivism, more effective even than more aggressive approaches such as bootcamps and even vocational development, access to education has been difficult within
prisons. 109 Historically, most in-prison college programmes have been dependent uponfederal aid such as Pell Grants, and as such dependent upon the decisions of policymakers.
The rise and precipitous decline in educational opportunities in prisons is an artifact of
the chilling effect the 1994 Violent Crime Bill had upon educational opportunities forincarcerated people. In 1982 nearly 27,000 incarcerated individuals were enrolled in a totalof 350 college-in-prison programmes (9% of the national prison population that year). 110
By the 1990s, estimates show that the number of available in-prison college programmes
had grown to 772 (a 121% increase from the previous decade) and were operating in 1,287
correctional facilities. 111 Despite this positive trend, policy decisions in the 1990s led to a
drastic decrease in in-prison college opportunities which has had cascading effects on
individuals, families, communities, and as shown above, on local, state and the national
economy. The decline primarily began in earnest in 1992 when people serving life
sentences without parole and those sentenced to death became ineligible to access Pell
Grants. This policy change was followed in 1994 by the Violent Crime Control and Law
Enforcement Act, which banned anyone incarcerated in prison from receiving federal Pell
Grant aid. 112 The impact on in-prison college opportunities was dramatic, with estimatesshowing that by 1997 there were only eight in-prison college programmes across the entire
United States (down from 772 in the 1990s). 113 In addition, access to educational
opportunities was often further restricted at the state level, with many states following thefederal government’s example to increase restrictions on accessing funds within regional
programmes.
Nearly a decade later, in 2005 there existed a mere 12 prison programmes despite thefact that research released that very same year found that recidivism rates were 46 per centlower for those who participated in prison education programmes versus those who had
not. 114
The first light began to appear in 2016 when the Education Department’s New Second
Chance Pell Pilot Program was released, expanding college access to 12,000 incarcerated
individuals in partnership with 68 universities throughout the country. 115 Still, this number
remains 56 per cent lower than the enrolment rates of the early 1980s. Ironically, as of2015 approximately the same number of Americans had criminal records as had four-year
Prison Studies Project (2018). Why prison education? Retrieved from<https://prisonstudiesproject.org/why-prison-education-programs/>.
110
Sawyer, W. (2019, August 22). After Pell Grants were cut, college participation in prisons dropped byhalf. Retrieved from<https://news.prisonpolicy.org/t/ViewEmail/r/45EC2A695D322EE62540EF23F30FEDED/36BCA921E958
08A5DDA3541AF197FE1F>.
111
Ibid.
112
Ibid.
113
Ibid.
114
Prison Studies Project (2018). Why prison education? Retrieved from<https://prisonstudiesproject.org/why-prison-education-programs/>.
115
U.S. Dept. of Education (2016, June 24). 12,000 incarcerated students to enroll in Postsecondary
educational and training programs through Education department's new second chance Pell pilot program.
Retrieved from <https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/12000-incarcerated-students-enroll-postsecondaryeducational-and-training-programs-through-education-departments-new-second-chance-pell-pilot-program>.
109- 189 - 189 -college degrees. 116
Organizations like Safer Foundation are essential to mitigate the challenges to workfor folks with arrest and conviction records. Through a broad spectrum of supportive
services, Safer Foundation offers clients the tools they need to acquire stable employment,
including intensive case management that can help clients access behavioural healthtreatment, training and certificate programmes, resume and interview coaching, and legal
services. Working with legal service providers like Rights and Restoration Law Group,
Legal Aid Chicago, and Cabrini Green Legal Aid, Safer Foundation can connect clientswith lawyers to seal and expunge their records, obtain executive clemency, and acquire
waivers needed to work in certain industries with a record, such as health-care worker
waivers and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) waivers for the financial
industry. Tiana was one client who had a lengthy arrest and conviction record for offences
committed in the 1990s. In 2017, she was able to get all but three records sealed through a
Safer Foundation programme looking to pair people with arrest and conviction records
with jobs in the health-care industry. Working with Cabrini Green, she got the remainderof her records sealed. In an interview, Tiana expressed a tremendous sense of joy:
My background sealed now, the story is, ain't no stopping me! I'm going to the top
now! I got them three [records] sealed. Yes. Two years. Two years of me working
hard, crying, you know, trying to get it done so I can work at the jobs I'm working
now. So after I got them sealed, my first job was at West Suburban Hospital. I did
three years there. So I resigned from them, you know you gotta go out right, ‘cause
Chicago Public Schools had got me a job. So I gave them a two week’s notice. They
did not want me to leave because by me working through warehouses and laborready, they was letting us come in with backgrounds. That's how I got myexperience for my resume. I had a resume...
Through the legal relief options Safer was able to offer Tiana, her job prospects were
instantly amplified. She no longer had to worry about being rejected by workforce
screening companies because of her record, and she was able to get stable jobs at schools
and hospitals for the first time in her life.
While clients explore their legal relief options, Safer Foundation works on building out
the connections to get them successfully employed. Clients are prepared for the workforce
through several job readiness programmes. Safer Foundation then creates relationships
with employers in diverse industries, like JP Morgan Chase Bank, West Suburban Hospital,
Freedman Seating, and Jolt Technologies. Account Executives at Safer then work to
educate these organizations on the benefits of hiring people with records, including higher
retention rates and company loyalty. Account Executives build out pipelines of highly
trained candidates to match with these employers. This relationship gives clients from
Safer Foundation a foot in the door. Through Safer Foundation’s services and thoughtfulcase management Evan was able to find a good paying job that provides a higher standardof living and a brighter future.
I've been working at Freedman for nine months and I got two raises and a
promotion in two months… Ernest [Safer Foundation Account Executive] was aFriedman, M. (2015, November 17). Just Facts: As Many Americans Have Criminal Records as College
Diplomas. Retrieved from <https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/just-facts-manyamericans-have-criminal-records-college-diplomas>.

116- 190 - 190 -big help! Everything that I told him was going on, he listened and he did what hecould. I got a CNC Mill and a Material Safety and Data certifications. Without thatcertification I would never have gotten this job. I had never seen a dial caliber. I
didn't know what a micrometer was. I had never even seen a blueprint before.
Without Safer I would've never gotten any of that stuff. Like, it's insane to see where
my life was two years ago and like where I am now. I went on vacation! I actually
was at my job long enough that I get vacation days! I'm going to Bali. I'm like...
dude, to think this person... I was homeless! I was sleeping in a truck. Fromsleeping in a truck and going to Bali in two years. So the sky's the limit. I just wanna
be happy and just peaceful… Remain grateful for the opportunity and takeadvantage of what you've been given, you know what I mean? Just take advantageof what it is. And then try to change it into what you want it to be.
These job readiness and certificate programmes were able to give Evan the education
he needed to overcome the stigma of his record. Once in the workforce, Greg proved
himself a loyal and competent worker and was quickly promoted. However, if Evan had
never found Safer Foundation, his potential may have never been discovered.
The reality is that people with arrest and conviction records have a lot of untapped
potential that is being withheld from the economy. People who have experienced
incarceration have a unique life experience to share and build on. Their perspective isinvaluable. Liam, for example, has used his experience to create innovative ideas in theworld of app development. Liam went through the Safer Foundation IT Training Programand successfully gained employment. He explains:
I currently work for [an app development] company. There's over 29,000
laundromats in the USA, mostly in inner cities and underserved communities. I’mworking on an app [that] brings people with washers and dryers into the gig
economy... It's exciting to see how this will come along and disrupt a whole industry
that historically hasn't really provided economic value to the communities that itserved. [At laundromats] all the transactions are done in cash, there's a lot ofmoney that's not reported by those laundromats, therefore, they're not paying taxes
on, that's not going back into the communities that they're at. And they're not reallyemploying anyone there within that community, they're not creating jobs in that
community, and they're not paying their fair share of taxes. This app could
drastically change that.
Liam was able to discover a product that was desperately needed in the communities
he was a part of. His life experience and innovativeness, combined with his training in
information technology acquired through Safer, allowed him to create a solution to his
community’s needs. Social services like those provided by Safer Foundation help topotentialize growth and stimulate the economy. Ultimately, if the United States’ economy
continues to ostracize people with records, it is wasting untapped potential like Liam’s.
C. Physical and Behavioural HealthMany of the formerly incarcerated do not receive needed medical treatment despite thenecessity for timely and continuous access to care. Despite this, Greifinger argues that theAmerican prison health system does not do enough to ensure that the incarcerated return- 191 - 191 -to society in good health. 117 Many of those within correctional institutions entered
incarceration with existing health-related issues ranging from mental illness to substanceabuse histories and/or relatively high rates of communicable diseases. Despite treatment
options while incarcerated, often these health difficulties resume upon release andprogressively grow more serious due to difficulty in accessing and maintaining care. Anytreatment inmates receive while incarcerated usually ends when they re-enter thecommunity due primarily to a lack of health insurance. For example, less than 25 per centof those with chronic disorders see a physician in the first-year post-release while 80 per
cent report no community treatment preceding their last arrest. This is of particular concern
as many of the individuals cycling in and out of correctional institutions have above
average rates of chronic medical conditions, acute mental health disorders, and substanceabuse disorders. 118 Guyer, Bachrach and Shine note that before Medicaid expansion, lessthan 20 per cent of the incarcerated were enrolled in Medicaid prior to re-entry and morethan 60 per cent gained coverage less than a year subsequent to expansion. 119
According to Binswanger et al., previously incarcerated individuals are “at high risk fordeath after release from prison, particularly during the first 2 weeks”, with the leading
causes of death being drug overdose, cardiovascular disease, homicide and suicide. 120 In a
study involving previously incarcerated beneficiaries of Medicare fee-for-service foundthat 1.4 per cent of individuals were hospitalized within 7 days after release, 3.9 per centwithin 30 days and 8.3 per cent within 90 days. The study also found that approximately
1.4 per cent of former inmates were hospitalized for an acute condition within seven daysof release, and 8.3 per cent by 90 days, a rate much higher than in the general population.
Evan illustrates how the vicious cycle of substance abuse perpetuated itself each time he
was released:
That whole time I was just doing drugs man. Like, I had been able to, like, put
together some sober time, you know what I mean? I would stop drinking and stuff
like that until like I got an ok job. And then an apartment. But then I would go backto drinking and then like I would lose all of that stuff. And so it was the same thing
when I got out of prison. You know like, I got a job, but then I started drinking andlike it didn't matter, you know what I mean? It was just like, you know, it's my job
to get away with it, it's their job to catch me. A whole messed up thought process
behind that, you know what I mean. Not even just thinking about drink – well not
drinking, but like thinking about drinking and thinking about how like how selfish
I was and how my brain was just warped to think that it was ok to lie and it was ok
to hurt people and it was okay to do all of these things, because that's the way theworld is. You know what I mean? That's how I used to look at it. Only through God,AA, and Safer. You know, seriously bro, Safer allowed me to go to school to get my
Greifinger, R. B., Bick, J. A., & Goldenson, J. (2010). Public health behind bars: From prisons tocommunities. NewYork, NY: Springer Science+Business Media.
118
Bronson, J., & Berzofsky, M. (2017, June). Indicators of Mental Health Problems Reported by Prisoners
and Jail Inmates, 2011-12. US Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, Bureau of Justice
Statistics. Retrieved from <https://www.bjs.gov/index.cfm?ty=pbdetail>.
119
Guyer, J., Bachrach, D., & Shine, N. (2015). Medicaid Expansion and Criminal Justice Costs: PreExpansion Studies and Emerging Practices Point Toward Opportunities for States. State Health Reform
Assistance Network.
120
Binswanger, I., Al., E., Author Affiliations From the Puget Sound Veterans Affairs Medical Center,
Okie, S., Gibney, E., J. H. Beigel and Others, . . . A. G. Letizia and Others. (2007, January 11). Releasefrom Prison - A High Risk of Death for Former Inmates: NEJM. Retrieved from<https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmsa064115>.
117- 192 - 192 -certifications [manufacturing] and helped out and [helped with] my rent because
I had to quit the job that I was at to get into, you know like, the program, cause it
was school five days a week, and like they gave me bus passes, you know, so I could
go not only to school but to my AA meetings too.
While Evan found alcoholics anonymous and Safer Foundation to support him throughhis recovery, after years of recidivism, most people who return from incarceration do notfind these community resources in time.
Many times, people with arrest and conviction records do not know their health-care
options if they do not have a community-based navigator to help them. When talking about
the most valuable resources Safer Foundation was able to provide, Liam expressed accessto mental health services was chief among them:Besides training and employment resources, transportation to those trainings, havebeen very helpful, and general guidance on where I can go for treatment for
depression or anything like that. Different psychiatrists and therapists they could
point me toward or how I can just go about talking to someone... Which I currently
do speak to a therapist and psychiatrist on a monthly basis. Thanks to Safer, I wasable to find one.
The deep and extensive impact of incarceration in terms of the development of severe,
long-term health limitations is laid bare by the fact that any contact at all with incarceration
is in general more statistically significant upon health than the degree and extent of contact
with incarceration. 121 In other words, one experience with imprisonment is often enoughto imprint permanent negative health outcomes. Even the discrimination experienced while
searching for employment has been shown to be linked to negative health outcomes suchas high blood pressure as well as mental illness. 122 Thus, community-based services thatconnect people with arrest and conviction records to basic physical and mental health carebecome necessary for their survival.
As in all aspects of mass incarceration, the stressors associated with incarceration
extend beyond the individual to directly impact family members negatively. Researchshows that children of incarcerated parents also experience a variety of negative healtheffects such as ADHD, developmental delays including speech and/or language problems
and behavioural issues. 123 According to Turney “Incarceration is likely compounding thedisadvantages…setting them further behind, and contributing to racial and social classinequalities in children’s health”. 124 Children of incarcerated parents experience an arrayof negative health outcomes, including attention deficit hyperactivity disorder,developmental delays, speech or language problems and behavioural or conduct
problems. 125 This impact is so great, that the work of Wildeman et al. show that “massMassoglia, M., & Pridemore, W. A. (2015). Incarceration and Health. Annual review of sociology, 41,
291–310. Retrieved from <https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-soc-073014-112326>.
122
Pascoe, E., & Smart Richman, L. (2009). Perceived discrimination and health: A meta-analytic review.
Retrieved from <https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19586161/>.
123
Morsy, L., & Rothstein, R. (2019). Mass incarceration and children's outcomes: Criminal justice policyis
education policy. Retrieved from <https://www.epi.org/publication/mass-incarceration-and-childrensoutcomes/>.
124
Turney, K. “Stress Proliferation Across Generations? Examining the Relationship Between Parental
Incarceration and Childhood Health,” Journal of Health and Social Behavior 55, no. 3 (2014): 302-19
125
Ibid.
121

- 193 - 193 -incarceration has increased both intracountry inequality in child health in the United Statesand intercountry inequality in child health between the United States and other developed
democracies.” 126 In other words, mass incarceration in the United States has such a highimpact on child health that it affects the country’s standing within comparativeinternational health indicators.
Women in jails especially report high rates of mental health issues compared to men.
Inmates with a past of a mental health disorder, 31 per cent had major depressive disorder,
in comparison to bipolar disorder (25%), an anxiety disorder (18%) or PTSD (16%). 127
Combined, poor physical and mental health, the trauma of incarceration and the stigma of
having a criminal record make it even more difficult for formerly incarcerated women tofind employment, a critical factor in maintaining a healthy, stable life. Sylvia explained
her own trauma after being in jail for 8 months:
It’s a lot of mental abuse with these jails. They think because you’re behind bars or
behind doors that they take it as, that’s a way of them controlling you. They will sit
there and have you go through necessities. Simple necessities, like a simple showeror your meal. At times, the food wasn’t even up...you know, it was expired or it was
just nasty, and they expected us to eat that. I had a lot of females open up to me inthis jail and let me know how [the guards] would sit there and record themsometimes. I’ve seen it...one time, I seen the camera. I was in the hold downstairs
in DuPage County, and they brought in a female, and they stripped her naked in
front of males. One of the male officers had a camera recording. I heard when thisfemale told an officer, “Please,” and I seen it, and they told the officer, “Please,
don’t be touching me improperly. I’m not...” They ended up fondling her. They put
complaints about the sexual assault in there by officers… I’ve seen it for myself
how these officers would take the authority and do whatever they wanted to thesepeople’s lives.
Women have a higher chance of entering incarceration with a history of abuse, trauma
and mental health issues and while in prison are more likely to suffer serious psychologicalstress, often related to the fact that women face sexual abuse by both staff and otherincarcerated women. Sylvia, as was mentioned earlier, went back to an abusive relationshipafter incarceration. After all that trauma, Sylvia did not know how to cope. Treatment
options are often lacking or completely unavailable for women who have experienced
incarceration.
It was not until Sylvia reached Safer Foundation that she finally had the resources tohelp her address these traumas:
The only health condition I have, and I’ve been dealing with it, is PTSD, posttraumatic stress disorder, for the, you know, for the things that I’ve endured in mylife and the experiences and the things that have happened to me. They had put me
on a few medications, but I noticed that it’s no point of you taking any medication
when you don’t have the other part of the treatment, which is the counseling, thetherapy... I am a domestic violence [survivor] right now, [and] that’s where Safer
Wildeman, C., Goldman, A., & Turney, K. (2018, June 1). Parental Incarceration and Child Health in the
United States. Retrieved from <https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/29635444>.
127
Bronson, J., & Berzofsky, M. (2017). Indicators of Mental Health Problems Reported by Prisoners ...
Retrieved from <https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/imhprpji1112.pdf>.
126- 194 - 194 -Foundation also plays in. I’m a new client, and they’re helping me with trying to
get counseling and things like that. It’s been a very hard experience. A lot of people
have no way of speaking about their experience because they don’t have anyone
they can trust, because everyone that has had the opportunity, or has had theresources to help, they take advantage of them resources and they don’t use themfor good.”
Without community-based organizations, Sylvia would have been at a loss. Thanks to
Safer, she received the help she needed to recover from her experience with the criminal
legal system. In order to ensure that all communities are healthy, the state must
aggressively invest in community-based organizations that can connect people with arrest
and conviction records to the resources they need.
IV. CRIMINAL LEGAL SYSTEM REFORM
In the State of Illinois and throughout the United States, we disproportionately punish
those who are poor, Black, and brown and underserve people with arrest and conviction
records, their families, and their communities. The current criminal justice system sets
those returning from prison up for failure by limiting their movement, failing to provide
access to essential resources, and overscrutinizing technical parole violations.
Comprehensive criminal justice reforms designed to reduce incarceration and lessen theimpact of collateral consequences will help the state refocus its efforts towards equity andjustice. Addressing social determinants of crime and incarceration will require immediateand sustained reform. The recommended policies provide effective alternatives toincarceration and ensure that people receive the services and treatment they need topromote their successful re-entry to society.
Correctional agencies place individuals on electronic monitoring to ensure that they
are in compliance with conditions of pre-trial release, probation or parole with little to no
regard on the restrictions they place on people’s lives. According to a study by the Pew
Charitable Trust, electronic monitoring rose 140 per cent in the United States over a 10year period. For more than two decades, the Illinois Department of Corrections has beenusing electronic monitoring, which has cost the state over 32.5 million dollars since 2014.
Currently 2,400 individuals are on electronic monitoring according to the Illinois
Department of Corrections as a condition of mandatory supervised release.
Sean, who served 28.5 years in detention and was released during the pandemic,
explains what being on electronic monitoring was like:
About three days after I was out, they'll tell you to stay put and somebody's going
to come out to your house and hook an ankle monitor up. I'm on an electronic
device where I had to be in the house at a certain time and I could leave the houseat a certain time... My movement is seven to seven. That means from seven o'clockin the morning till seven at night, I can move. Any time after that, I'm not supposed
to be moving. I'm on there for two months... Then they was rioting from Thursday
all the way till Monday of last week. The parole officers call and they say anybody
on electronic movement, your movement has been suspended for the whole week.
That means Monday till Friday we couldn't leave the house because they weremaking sure that we wasn't participating in the rioting...

- 195 - 195 -That restriction in movement is severely limiting for returning citizens. The first twomonths after release are pivotal to readapting to society and going through the processesof becoming a citizen again, from bureaucracy like obtaining a State ID to getting a job.
The time restriction also makes it difficult to gain access to part-time employment that
operate for overnight shifts or early morning shifts, jobs which are typically more friendly
to people with criminal records.
Electronic monitoring renders even the most basic of daily tasks a potentially life
altering decision, and small missteps can have cascading effects. As a report by the Greater
Chicago Food Depository states, the “restrictions placed on individuals during electronicmonitoring may make it difficult for them to go to the grocery store, food pantry, or seek
medical attention in a timely way.” 128 The strictest conditions of electronic monitoring
include but are not limited to:
•

•
•

•
•

Not being allowed to go to a hospital in an emergency without first obtaining
permission from the parole officer, regardless of the time of day or the seriousnessof the situation.
No working overtime or changing work schedule without permission from theparole officer.
Submitting a detailed description of all movements out of the house two weeks inadvance, including the departure and arrival details of transportation and household
movement and work assignments for jobs (i.e., house cleaning, construction, andgardening)
Restricted times of bathing
Drug testing during working hours without the parole agent making priorarrangements with employers.

The Illinois Prisoner Review Board issued a memorandum that, among other things,
altered the conditions of electronic monitoring. The rule, effective immediately as of July
2019, requires IDOC to grant those on monitoring at least twelve hours of movement, or
time outside of the house. However, the rule is poorly enforced. People in the programme
report that they are usually given much less than 12 hours and are not made aware of the
new regulation at all. 129
The concerns surrounding electronic monitoring are exacerbated by the Covid-19
pandemic. As judges release more people from Cook County Jail in response to thecoronavirus outbreak, many individuals are being placed on electronic monitoring. Nearly
2,000 people recently released from prison are on electronic monitoring as part of the termsof their release, many of them in Cook County. In May, Cook County Jail announced that
it was facing a shortage of electronic monitoring equipment. Due to the shortage, anyone
assigned to electronic monitoring will be held at the jail until a judge modifies their bond
– a process that could take months. Furthermore, the thousands of people who already had
ankle monitors before the pandemic are not getting off them because of court closures,worsening the shortage.
Cook County Food Access Task Force. Final Recommendations: Improving Food Access for Individuals
with Justice-System Involvement and Their Families. (2020, May 13). Retrieved
from <https://www.chicagosfoodbank.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/2020_CCFATF-Report.pdf>.
129
Lerner, K., Vaughn, J., Weill-Greenberg, E., & Corey, E. (2019). Illinois loosened Ankle-Monitor
restrictions, but advocates say it's too soon to celebrate. Retrieved from <https://theappeal.org/illinoisloosened-ankle-monitor-restrictions-but-advocates-say-its-too-soon-to-celebrate/>.
128- 196 - 196 -A client of Safer Foundation, Warren, explains how after he was released from prison,
it was nearly impossible for him to get a State ID – the most basic tool he needed to accesshis finances, housing and employment – while he was on electronic monitoring:
Most of the guys here in the house with me need IDs. So, the DMV was closed. They
opened up a couple weeks ago on a Monday, and we went out there that firstMonday, and there was over 200 people in line when we got there about 8:30. Theyclosed it off [before we could get our IDs] ‘cause there was too many people, they
couldn’t have too many people, because of the virus, working inside. So, we cameback home, and we had decided to come the next day, but later on that day the
IDOC parole officer for our whole house, basically told us we couldn’t leave. We
were on lockdown, no movement until further notice. They give us a 30-day
certificate that allows us to redeem the state ID free. We hadn’t used it, so I tried
to call the Parole office a couple times to let them know I wanted to move, go out
and try to get the license. They never called me back after the calls I left for them,three or four times. Once I get my electronic monitoring off, I’m going to try to be
down there first in line and just try to go through without. But they talk about August
as the time frame, before they’re going to start reopening. So that’s really kind of
hard. We need IDs to do most anything you need to do.
Parole and electronic monitoring were prohibitive especially during the summer of
2020, amidst the pandemic and social upheaval. We found that several clients, even those
who spent only a few months in prison for DUI and other non-violent convictions, wereusually on electronic monitoring. Of 273 clients who were surveyed on the condition of
their parole, 39 per cent were on electronic monitoring. This limited the movement ofclients and in some cases complete lockdown hindered them from getting access to carepackages, ID, food, clothing, employment and health-care services.
Those on electronic monitoring who are ill are faced with the challenge of choosing
between their own health and the health of their families or being reincarcerated if they
violate the restrictions placed on them. Receiving permission to leave the house, even in
emergencies, is a process that can take up to three days. For any medical emergency, inorder to not to violate monitoring conditions, information including the name and title ofthe medical personnel and location, the exact time of the appointment, and the mode oftransportation must be emailed to the electronic monitoring unit 72 hours in advance. The
Cook County Sherriff’s office has no data on whether they are tracking how many people
on EM have Covid-19.
Data transparency around electronic monitoring in the State of Illinois is severely
lacking. Despite, the cost of electronic monitoring and the strict rules people must abide
by, there has been little to no research conducted on how well monitoring programmes
work. The Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council (SPAC) examined a sample ofpeople under electronic monitoring for people leaving prison between April and June of
2018. The report revealed that the IDOC had no guidelines or criteria when using electronicmonitoring. 130 For example, those who have committed sex crimes and violent offences
are required under state law to wear an ankle monitor; however, the report shows that thosewith violent convictions were not given one. The council’s report also found that theoverwhelming majority of people being tracked had committed nonviolent offences. The
130

Ibid.

- 197 - 197 -report concludes that there is an increased chance that a low-risk offender will recidivate
when placed on an electronic monitor due to technical violations.
In response to this lack of data and information, the Illinois legislature unanimously
passed HB0386 which requires correctional officials to release an annual report recordingon who goes on electronic monitoring. The data breakdown includes demographic of themonitored population – including race, gender, and age. Agencies must also record
whether someone is being monitored because it is mandated by law or according to the
Prisoner Review Board. Additionally, correctional officials will need to track what
offences people are convicted of, and how many returns to prison due to violations. So far,there has been no issued report by IDOC tracking these new regulations.
Another critical issue facing many is the continued use of cash bail. Across the nation
the requirement of cash bail results in minorities being detained in jails at a significant
disproportionate rate. Whites who typically have the family and personal wealth to pay
cash bail, post bail and are released. Minorities who do not have the family or personal
wealth cannot afford to post bond and are detained in jails for the same charges. cash bailis a de facto racially discriminatory system. Detention in jail should be based uponassessment of an individual’s flight risk, danger to themselves or the public, not the abilityof the person to post cash bail. Safer Foundation client, Sharon, explains how her pre-trial
detention upended her life completely:
I caught a DUI in 2017. I had never been in any trouble. I had arrests but neverbeen convicted. So, I caught a DUI out in King County and I had to go to jail. Went
back and forth with the court for a year and a half and I had to do 12 days in KingCounty Jail to keep my case from being a felony, I didn't want to be a felon. So, I
did the 12 days in jail and I was placed on probation, which I'm on probation rightnow, I get off in December. I hate it when I got my DUI because I had never beenin trouble, had never been to jail or anything and I just thought my world would
end. I lost my job in the process of that because of what I went through.
For the last twenty years, the primary driver of mass incarceration has been pretrial
detention. 131 Increasingly, people who are not convicted of crimes and awaiting trial areincarcerated in local jails and prisons. Almost 18 times as many people are admitted to jailthan in prison annually. And nearly 730,000 people are held in more than 3,000 jails acrossthe US on any given day. 132
In Illinois, the Pretrial Fairness Act was passed on 13 January 2021 by the statelegislature. 133 This law would make Illinois the first state in the nation to end cash bail, if
signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker. In order to end the discriminatory criminal legal system,ending cash bail and electronic monitoring are necessary steps that the state and the nationmust take.

Wagner, P., Sawyer, W. (2018). The Prison Policy Initiative. Mass incarceration: The whole pie 2018.
Copp, J.E., Bales, W.D. (2018). Jails and local justice system reform: Overview and recommendations.
The
Futureof children, 28(1), 103-124.
133
Kiran Misra, “Illinois Poised to Become First State to End Wealth-Based Pre-Trial Detention,” The
Guardian (Guardian News and Media, 21 January 2021), https://www.theguardian.com/usnews/2021/jan/21/illinois-pre- trial-fairness-act-wealth-based-detention.
131
132- 198 - 198 -V. THE PRISON EMERGENCY RELEASE RESPONSE (PEERR℠) 134 MODEL:CREATING FORMALIZED PATHWAYS TO SUCCESSFUL RE-ENTRY
On 6 October 2020, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker voiced his support for successful reentry when he stated the need to “Prioritize rehabilitation and reduce the risk of recidivism
by increasing access to housing and healthcare for returning residents. The state iscommitted to expanding opportunities, supports, and services for people who are exiting
the prison system so that they are set up to succeed upon return to their communities, andwhich will save taxpayers money by reducing the number of people trapped in a cycle ofrecidivism.” Well before this announcement, Safer Foundation has been working with
community partners to provide the services required for successful re-entry. When theCovid-19 virus began hitting jails and prisons hard, Safer Foundation was able to step up
and act when needed most.
At the request of the Governor’s Office and in partnership with the Illinois Departmentof Corrections (IDOC), in March of 2020 Safer Foundation developed an interdepartmental
emergency release crisis response team and a hotline to receive and work with the hundredsof people returning to the Community. Dubbed the Prison Emergency Early ReleaseResponse team (PEERR℠), this group comprises eight agencies organized to receivereferrals from re-entry navigators and provide services, resources and support forindividuals released early during the pandemic. The PEERR℠ collaboration beganproviding immediate, emergency support to Illinois prison inmates and jail releasees who
were released early due to the Covid-19 outbreak to limit the spread of Covid-19 in thecorrectional populations via a hotline set up with the IDOC Director of Reentry and Cook
County Jail and continues operating today. Functioning like a Virtual Triage Call Center,
PEERR℠ maintains a hotline number provided to inmates at the time of their release. To
facilitate a smoother transition and hinting towards the need for the development of prerelease services and planning, IDOC provides a copy of each inmate’s release file to Safer
with information regarding existing behavioural health issues, physical health, and otherconfidential but relevant information, upon inmate consent, to ensure each individual isprovided with the precise services they require. The PEERR℠ group also established asystem to safely and securely assess people upon exit and determine their urgent needs,
such as medications, benefit assistance (Medicaid and SNAP), State IDs, immediate cash
assistance, housing and clothes, and other immediate needs.
Safer's Reentry Navigators have been working to triage the immediate needs of people
returning from incarceration to stabilize them via the services available through the
PEERR℠ network of provider partners. Once stabilized they are put on a career pathway
for long term self-sufficiency. By addressing these immediate needs and providing
socioeconomic opportunities, PEERR℠ is providing people with alternate pathways thana life of crime and reinvolvement with the justice system. To successfully accomplish this,
we must put in place a systemic, holistic re-entry process for people returning from prisons.
While efforts are underway to improve the re-entry process, there are not formalized
pathways for people to be successful post-release. To address this, it is critical thatprocesses such as PEERR℠ are formalized and become a standard part of the re-entry
system on a state and municipal level.
Please see PEERR℠ Report included as appendix to this document as well as a presentation on
PEERR℠ at Safer Foundation’s CARRE Conference (October 2020):<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sYoMmD9jHkY&feature=emb_title>.

134- 199 - 199 -VI. CONCLUSION
There currently is no systemic, holistic re-entry process in place for people returningfrom prison. While efforts are underway to improve the re-entry process, there is a lack ofengrained pathways for people to be successful post-release. It is critical that processes
such as the Prison Emergency Release Response effort become a standard part of the reentry process for individuals coming home. The cost of doing nothing or not enoughthwarts efforts to reduce prison populations due to Covid-19 and efforts to reduce violence.
The demand for critical services due to the Covid-19 Pandemic continues each week andwill continue for the foreseeable future as we begin to see evidence of a resurgence in theillness around the country. And while we are moving into a new phase with the pandemic,
Safer continues to receive referrals from IDOC, as the problems are not going away any
time soon. In particular, the need for housing for people released early as a result of Covid19 is growing rapidly as returning residents are beginning to have difficulty living in theirapproved host sites. The housing backlog grows by the day. Some have already become
homeless, and it has been a struggle to find placement in alternative housing with limited
resources.
Any re-entry system must be accessible, effective, coordinated, fair and administrable.
Developing such a system requires an understanding of the great diversity of the formerly
incarcerated, and the equally diverse, yet unique, challenges they face “as an essential firststep”. 135 In consideration of this, Safer has engaged in a systematic effort to identify thepathways of prisoner reintegration and examine what factors play significant parts insuccessful or unsuccessful re-entry experiences while identifying how to inform public
policy most effectively. Safer plans to continue a systematic recording and analysis of there-entry process as informed by individuals directly impacted by incarceration, including
family members of those who have spent time imprisoned, and leaders in the field of reentry.
In order to document the historical significance of the period and draw applicablelessons capable of informing future direct services and public policy decisions, Safer
Foundation included within its PEERR℠ work a qualitative research component intended
to continue into the foreseeable future. This research includes rigorous interviews withindividuals re-entering from corrections facilities as well as conversations with direct
services providers who have worked within PEERR℠. To effectively document this work
Safer Foundation is collaborating with subject matter experts and process systems
consultants Smart Policy Works to create Journey Maps, effective tools that put a face tothe numbers and tell the story of those released in an impactful way. Utilizing an oral
history methodology and journey mapping, these interviews provide actionable
information to service providers as well as policymakers. Safer Foundation plans tocontinue the qualitative investigations begun within PEERR℠ and work to continuously
provide practical, actionable recommendations for service providers and policymakers
while also contributing towards the growing body of knowledge in the field of re-entry.
This approach reflects what is needed in the field of re-entry, in particular theexamination of re-entry from the perspective of the returning individual while also
considering the unique challenges facing women as the fastest growing demographic
Christy Visher, Nancy G. La Vigne, and Jeremy Travis, Returning Home: Understanding the Challengesof Prisoner Reentry (Maryland Pilot Study: Findings from Baltimore) (Washington, DC: The Urban
Institute, 2003).
135- 200 - 200 -within jails and prisons. As noted by Holtfreter and Wattanaporn, while “‘one-size fits all’correctional programmes may represent efficient and cost-effective approaches to re-entry
in terms of implementation, failure to attend to gender responsive factors may prove more
economically and socially costly in the long run.” 136 This report argues that any effective
paradigm of prisoner re-entry must consider the perspectives expounded by those impacted
by mass incarceration. Through their individual and collective experiences, people
returning from imprisonment offer first-hand experience of what successful re-entry
involves from their point of view. It is with this perspective, coupled with nearly half acentury of public service, that Safer Foundation intends to continue this work for anothercentury and provide our communities with the sustainable re-entry services they deserve.

Holtfreter, K., & Wattanaporn, K. A. (2013). The transition from prison to community initiative.
Criminal Justice and Behavior, 41(1), 41-57. doi:10.1177/0093854813504406

136- 201 - 201 -ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Primary Authors:
Benjamin Osborne M.A. Ed.
Sodiqa Williams Esq.
Contributing Authors:
Christian Flores – Qualitative research acknowledgement and writing support
throughout. All interview components were taken from qualitative interviews
conducted by Christian Flores. Falon Young – Primary author of Criminal JusticeReform section.
Baseline research support provided by the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Great Cities
Institute.
Special thanks to the individuals who participated in qualitative interviews.

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