The department also coordinates staff participation in sports events. The prison offers independent self-improvement programs directed by the chaplains, clinical services and mental health departments. Mental health staff provide both individual and group programs through registered psychologist and licensed psychiatrists. Stateville has experienced a dramatic increase in the use of volunteers from the community since FY1992. Approximately 400 persons, under the direction of the chaplaincy department, now regularly donate time and effort to inmates.
Staff also volunteer many hours to charitable organizations in the community.
The center's administration encourages employee community interaction and service. A successful employee voter registration drive, coordinated by employees of the union local, was conducted on center grounds. Still others have volunteered as a host family in the Share High School Exchange programs, and assisted local arts programs such as the Joliet Orchestra. Other community involvement is shown by volunteers with the Crisis Intervention Program answering the 24-hour crisis hot line and numerous volunteer and other civic activities such as an advocate for exceptional children. Several staff also provided support services to civil authorities as members of the Illinois National Guard in the flooding of the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers.