Real criminal justice reform requires that we provide quality education and occupational training alternatives to incarceration while also offering such services to those returning from incarceration.
This is absolutely critical to the reduction of crime, as the link between the lack of a high school diploma and employable skill and crime is absolute. The criminal justice system can serve as a vehicle for ensuring that these services are provided and used to their full advantage.
Approximately 95% of incarcerated individuals in the U.S. will eventually be released and return to their communities — either released on probation or parole or unconditionally discharged. In Illinois, this means out of the state’s 38,259 inmates as of Dec. 31, 2019, 36,346 will eventually be freed, as reported by the University of Illinois-Chicago’s Great Cities Institute. The vast majority of them are Chicagoans who will likely return to the city.
How many formerly incarcerated people are jobless at the moment? A good guess would be 60%, to generalize from a new report released by the Bureau of Justice Statistics. The report shows that a staggering 33% found no employment at all over four years post-release. Also, at any given time, no more than 40% were employed at all. Formerly incarcerated people who found jobs struggled to keep them as they had an average of 3.4 jobs throughout the four-year study period.
Data from the Prison Policy Initiative shows that the unemployment rate for formerly incarcerated people ages 25 to 44, the population that commits a disproportionate number of violent crimes, is a staggering 27.3%. This is nearly five times higher than that of the general U.S. population. An estimated 68% of released prisoners are rearrested within three years, 79% within six years and 83% within nine years. This makes removing the barriers to employment critically important.
Just as judges frequently suspend sentences for successful participation in drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, judges could also do the same with high-quality adult education and occupational training programs. This, of course, should apply only to nonviolent offenders. This would reduce the destructive generational impact incarceration has on families as a whole. It would provide individuals an opportunity for a second chance to become successful in a skill or trade.
Protocols should be developed for presentencing to assess and recommend alternatives to incarceration for people arrested on nonviolent charges and who are not habitual offenders. Drug treatment alternatives to incarceration have been available to judges for years. It is simply common sense to employ adult education and occupational training alternatives to incarceration in appropriate cases.
Furthermore, certain incarcerated individuals could be incentivized by an early-release schedule that is tied to metrics based on completing adult education programs and earning certification required for jobs that pay a living wage. This would provide real incentive for offenders to use the time to develop the skills needed for successful reentry. It would change their perception of their own incarceration to one of being afforded the opportunity for a fresh start.
There needs to be an organizational structure to support the promotion of education and occupational training for those who enter the criminal justice system. That includes a comprehensive assessment of offenders’ education and social-emotional and physical health needs to determine the most appropriate programs and support.
The Cook County sheriff, state’s attorney and courts would have access to a comprehensive database of adult education and occupation training and support services that can be made available to offenders as part of offering alternatives to prosecution and incarceration. A protocol could be developed for presentencing judicial advisers in Cook County Circuit Court to assess and recommend eligible arrested people for education-occupational training alternatives to incarceration and establish a similar process of referral for the Cook County Department of Corrections.
Critical to supporting reentry is providing job training with a paid work-study component. That must be accompanied by other supports such as housing, mental health services and family counseling, as well as removal of obstacles to securing government jobs and employment with city contractors.
The formerly incarcerated should also be encouraged and supported in starting their own businesses by increasing access to model programs such as one offered by the Chicago Neighborhood Initiatives that provides entrepreneurial training to help formerly incarcerated individuals qualify for loans. The city’s business assistance programs could be fully enlisted to support such efforts.
There are no financial obstacles to providing the courts with education and occupational training alternatives to incarceration or a vehicle for earned early release. It simply requires resetting priorities, an action that is long overdue, taking full advantage of existing programs and resources and facilitating effective coordination and cooperation among government institutions. It also requires that we remove obstacles to economic reintegration for those previously incarcerated.
There is a plethora of programs and community-based organizations that can more effectively serve this population with the proper coordination and access to a common database. Additional funding can be secured through the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act, which offers occupational training grants for high school dropouts, among other at-risk populations. The federal Work Opportunity Tax Credit is available to companies that hire people who face barriers to employment.
Changing the trajectory of many paths, rather than fueling the school-to-prison pipeline, would ultimately create significant savings; the ratio of how much is spent on incarceration versus education can range from 4:1 to 7:1, depending on the type and level of incarceration. Furthermore, the long-term savings in the form of reduced government dependency and the benefits to the community in terms of economic activity are substantial.
It’s critical that the police be given the support needed to remove and keep violent and habitual criminals off the street. However, there is no more important priority than taking proactive steps to address the educational and occupational training needs of those who enter the criminal justice system, while removing obstacles to economic reintegration for those previously incarcerated.
Paul Vallas is an adviser for the Illinois Policy Institute. He ran for Chicago mayor in 2023 and in 2019 and was previously budget director for the city and CEO of Chicago Public Schools.