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| Report shows bleak outlook for Chicago inmates |
| By Daily Southtown |
| Published: 09/19/2003 |
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Men released from prison often return to the Chicago neighborhoods least able to provide access to treatment for drug and alcohol addictions, according to a report released Tuesday. More than a third of prisoners from the Chicago area leave their cells without a place to go, and only 14 percent have a job lined up, said Christy Visser, who helped write The Urban Institute's report, 'Illinois Prisoners' Reflections on Returning Home.' William Robinson is one of the lucky ones. Today, Robinson goes back to Chicago's Ashburn neighborhood. The 18-year-old, convicted in 2001 for stealing a car, was sentenced to the Taylorville Correctional Center. During the past two years, Robinson participated in the prison's construction trades classes and eventually was able to enter a work-release program. The obstacles in his way, and in the way of others like him, are substantial, Visser said. Earlier research by the Urban Institute, a Washington criminal justice think tank, showed 18,377 released inmates returned to Cook County in 2001, more than half of all Illinois inmates released that year. Recently released prisoners concentrated heavily on the South and West sides of the city. More than a third of Chicago-area prisoners went to six city neighborhoods, including Englewood, West Englewood and Washington Park. Those are also neighborhoods with high concentrations of poverty and high crime rates. 'Of the inmates we surveyed, 50 percent had a daily drug or alcohol habit before their incarceration,' Visser said. 'People who have addiction problems are more likely to continue to commit crimes. And only a small percentage of those with a daily problem received treatment.' Without drug treatment or job training programs, Visser said, inmates see no way to support themselves once they're released. According to the report, almost half the inmates returning to Chicago listed 'family' as their primary source of financial support for the first six months after their release. The Chicago-based Safer Foundation runs the work-release program Robinson depended on to get his construction skills, and Visser pointed to their example as a way to keep prisoners from continuing the cycle of crime. The program serves 200 inmates at a time, said officer Jim Zangs, mostly young, non-violent offenders who volunteer for the trade classes and therapy the foundation provides. When they arrive at the foundation's North Lawndale facility, they're not allowed to leave except for work, but gradually inmates are given chances to visit family and even spend weekends outside, he said. 'Instead of getting released with $10 and a change of clothes, these guys have a savings account, they've gone through counseling, they're much better prepared to handle the world,' Zangs said. 'And every time we have someone released, there's somebody else who needs that bed.' |
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