NCJ Number
181904
Date Published
1999
Length
130 pages
Annotation
This report presents statistics on inmates, time served and sentences imposed by offense categories in among offenders sentenced to the Illinois Department of Corrections for the years 1989 through 1998, as well as some earlier years.
Abstract
The data are reported by frequency, mean, median, and dispersion. The prison population was 34 percent over capacity at the end of calendar year 1998, totaling 43,051 inmates in a correctional system designed to hold 32,166. Another 30,703 offenders were on mandatory supervised release. The prison population has increased from 24,712 to the current level since 1989, an increase of more than 74 percent. This large increase has occurred despite the enactment of numerous legislative and Department programs to reduce crowding and address specific inmate needs. The main factors causing the persistent prison population growth include an escalation in the volume and length of prison sentences, especially for violent offenses, and dramatic increases in the number of lower-level drug offenders admitted to prison. Tables, figures, and appended background information, definitions, and data interpretations