NCJ Number
140543
Date Published
1992
Length
16 pages
Annotation
Twelve articles on the Illinois prison crisis address the causes, effects, and efforts to resolve jail and prison overcrowding.
Abstract
An article profiles the problems of gang-infested neighborhoods, senseless crime, and sentencing laws that place young offenders in prison for long terms, thus contributing to the prison crowding crisis in Illinois. Another article notes that many of the problems facing the prison system can be traced to the pervasiveness of street gangs both outside and within prisons, since gangs foster and perpetuate the criminogenic character of urban and prison life. A third article discusses how drugs and drug- related crimes fuel jail and prison crowding and the criminal world. This is followed by a profile of the Cook County Jail (Chicago), Illinois' most crowded correctional facility. An examination of the work and worries of prison guards focuses on the stress, danger, and sometimes the corruption of their job. Other topics examined in the articles are the difficulty of becoming rehabilitated in overcrowded facilities; the availability of weapons, drugs, alcohol, and sex in prison; the surge in female and older inmates as a factor in prison overcrowding; sentencing alternatives to imprisonment; and State programs intended to help inmates make a new start.