Maximum Capacity: PBS Goes Inside An Illinois Prison

By The Beachwood Behind Bars Bureau

“The number of inmates in American prisons is outpacing the system’s ability to hold them all,” PBS reports. “In one startling example, California prisons hold well over 50,000 more inmates than they’re designed for, even though the state has built a dozen new prisons in the last 15 years. One of the biggest reasons is rampant recidivism.
“This week, NOW goes inside an Illinois prison that may have the answer to California’s problems. With its innovative plan to keep released inmates from coming back, the Sheridan Correctional Center is trying to redefine ‘tough on crime’ by being the largest fully dedicated drug prison in the country. The approach involves aggressive counseling, job training, and following the convicts after they get out.
Can their novel approach keep convicts out of jail for good?

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Maximum Capacity:

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And:
From the Illinois Department of Corrections:
“The Sheridan Correctional Center is an adult male medium-security prison, totally dedicated to substance abuse treatment. When at capacity, it will be the largest substance abuse treatment program in the nation.
“Sheridan Correctional Center was reopened on Jan. 2, 2004, to curb the trend in Illinois’ growing prison population to reduce high recidivism rates of released Illinois offenders, providing men with state-of-the-art substance abuse treatment services, and using a holistic approach to equip offenders to return to drug-free, crime-free lives upon release. In the Sheridan Correctional Center nation model program, treatment interventions and access to other services are coordinated from the outset. The substance abuse provider collaborates with a cadre of service providers, the Illinois Department of Corrections and Adult Parole to effect community reintegration of returning offenders and improve public safety.
“Recovering from addiction requires a wide range of social and psychological interventions to confront old behaviors and instill new ones. Sheridan Correctional Center applies clinical best practices and uses a modified therapeutic community model with cognitive self-change.
“Sheridan Correctional Center staff collaborates with other organizations to integrate job preparation programming, clinical reentry management services and community reintegration, including continuing care provided by community-based substance abuse treatment providers.”
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“Sheridan Correctional Center is located approximately 70 miles west of Chicago in LaSalle County and was originally constructed in 1941 as a juvenile facility. On Aug. 13, 1973, it was converted to an adult facility. Sheridan Correctional Center was closed from Aug. 15, 2002, until it reopened on Jan. 2, 2004. Sheridan Correctional Center consists of a total of 75 buildings, which comprise more than 600,000 square feet. There are 13 housing units and a 9-bed health care unit. The facility sits on 270 acres with 80 acres inside the perimeter fencing. The facility houses general population offenders.”
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Warden:
Michael Rothwell
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Vital Statistics:
Opened: (Re-Opened) January 2, 2004
Capacity: 848
Level 4: Medium-Security Adult Male
Average Daily Population: 943
Total Average Daily Population: 943
Average Age: 29
Average Annual Cost Per Inmate: $43,607.00
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Vocational:
* Commercial Custodian
* Culinary Arts
* Barbering
* Dietary Class
* Education to Careers
* Welding
* Warehousing
* Horticulture
* Youthful Offender
* Home Builders Institute (HBI)
Including:
– Electricity
– Carpentry
– Plumbing
– Masonry
– Building Apartment Maintenance
* Illinois Manufacturing Foundation (IMF)
Including:
-Machining/Manufacturing
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See also:
* The Sheridan Correctional Center on Prison Talk
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Comments welcome.

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Posted on April 6, 2010