Untapped Potential: The Power of Peer Support Programs in Prisons

Peer Support Programs have the potential to address a multitude of the issues that JHA identifies through our monitoring work. Not only is there an enormous need for care, but also a need for productive programming and the opportunity to learn skills that people can use to improve their daily lives while incarcerated, which will ideally also provide them with employment opportunities upon release.

We thank the Michael Reese Health Trust for funding this project. (March 2025)

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Rebecca Pellegrino2026
JHA Report on Reentry-Focused Facilities: Part 2 of 2

The phrase “reentry preparation begins the first day of incarceration” has been widely used in recent years, but evidence of it happening is scant. However, the formation of the IDOC Reentry Unit in 2020 demonstrates increased focus on preparing individuals nearing release. JHA has spent time over the past few years taking a deeper look at how this unit functions and how IDOC is preparing people for release. In Part 1 of our Reentry Report, JHA discussed IDOC’s reentry-dedicated facilities: 2 Life Skills Reentry Centers and 4 Adult Transition Centers. Today we are pleased to share  Part 2 of JHA’s Reentry Report, focused on Lincoln, Jacksonville, and Southwestern as reentry-focused prisons; the reentry unit at Danville is also discussed. (April 2025)

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Rebecca Pellegrino2025
JHA Report on Reentry-Focused Facilities: Part 1 of 2

  • JHA visited all six reentry facilities between July 2022 and July 2023 in order to report on the resources available within IDOC’s best established and most intensive reentry-focused settings. Findings from these visits, data, and JHA’s ongoing communications and survey work indicate that reentry facilities remain relatively successful, productive, and well-received compared to IDOC prisons, and yet are vastly underutilized. Most existing reentry facilities have populations far below reported capacities, and even at full capacity, could only serve a small percentage of the IDOC population potentially meeting eligibility criteria. Further, they remain regionally limited, particularly for women. (Dec 2024)

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Rebecca Pellegrino2024
Lockdowns, Overtime, and Unmet Needs: Why we must solve the current prison staffing crisis

Ensuring the safe and secure operation of Illinois’ prisons is a critical state function, yet the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) is facing a chronic staffing shortage that jeopardizes the health, safety, and well-being of staff and incarcerated people. The purpose of this report is to document the nature and scope of staffing shortages in Illinois’ prisons, detail the harms to incarcerated people and staff, and make recommendations for urgent and vital action to address the identified challenges. (Oct 2024)

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Rebecca Pellegrino2024