Implementation and Impact of Illinois' PreStart Program: A Final Report

• NCJ Number: 172249
• Author(s): T C Castellano; I Soderstrom; C L Ringel
• Date Published: 1996
• Length: 390 pages
• Grant Number(s): 92-DB-CX-0017
• Sponsoring Agency: Bureau of Justice Assistance (BJA); Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
• Corporate Author: Southern Illinois University Ctr for the Study of Crime, Delinquency, and Corrections
• Sale Source: NCJRS Photocopy Services; Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority
• Publication Type: Program/Project Evaluation
• Language: English
• Country: United States of America
• Note: From the series, Research and Program Evaluation in Illinois: Studies on Drug Abuse and Violent Crime.

Annotation

This report presents the methodology and findings of an evaluation of Illinois' PreStart Program, which prepares inmates for life after prison and then helps them adjust to the community after release.

Abstract

A departure from traditional parole, PreStart de-emphasizes the surveillance and supervision functions of parole for most offenders and focuses on referrals to social services that might help releasees integrate into society and avoid recidivism. The traditional surveillance and supervision functions of parole are now reserved for prison releasees thought to pose special threats to public safety. PreStart contains two distinct phases: prerelease education and postrelease assistance. After having gone through 30 hours of mandatory specialized classwork inside prison to prepare them for release, most releasees are able to use community resources brokered through a system of newly created community service centers. The centers help releasees get jobs, housing, and treatment assistance. This evaluation of the program's implementation and impact analyzed data from program documentation, interviews with staff and inmates, questionnaires to staff and inmates, follow-up interviews, site observations, and recidivism data. The evaluation shows that the Department of Corrections has done a commendable job in developing an innovative inmate reintegration program under difficult circumstances. PreStart releasees returned to prison at a rate of approximately 11.7 percent during the first year in the community, compared to 32.3 percent for inmates released in 1990, before PreStart began. Rearrest rates within 1 year of release were somewhat lower for inmates released under the PreStart program (40 percent) than for inmates released prior to PreStart's implementation. 59 tables, 19 figures, 66 references, and appended supplementary data