Illinois lawmakers are taking suggestions on how to best revamp the state’s criminal justice system. IPR's Tony Arnold reports.
Advocates and prison officials had a variety of complex answers to lawmakers’ questions. That means understanding who’s in prison, what they’re in for, how long they stay in prison, and how often they end up going back.
Kathy Saltmarsh is a state official who studies sentencing guidelines.
"Do you want to be spending your incarceration dollar on people who are simply acting out at a relatively low level over and over again, or is there a more-effective, less costly strategy for dealing with them?"
Saltmarsh encouraged lawmakers to do more assessments of inmates, so it’s easier to see who’s likely to end up back in prison after being released.
Meantime, some lawmakers were trying to find ways to shrink the prison population by moving the elderly or even inmates in the country illegally.