Bill requires state to give families access to information on local support services

SPRINGFIELD, IL – To help end the cycle of crime and recidivism among families, the Illinois Legislature has passed a measure sponsored by state Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie, D-Chicago, requiring state agencies to work with community groups on providing informational materials to the families and children of incarcerated parents.

“Ending the cycle of crime will never happen just by putting criminals behind bars, and it is not as simple as making sure that we teach our children right from wrong,” Currie said. “We need to work to provide resources so children can have a strong community support system, as well as a strong family support system.”

Senate Bill 1404, which was sponsored by state Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, in the Senate, requires the state Department of Corrections and Department of Human Services to inform the children and families of incarcerated parents of the social service programs that are available to them, including visitation programs, family counseling, mentoring, school-based programs, and other programs identified by community organizations that work with families of prisoners.

Materials must provide telephone and Internet contacts to provide the children’s caregivers with further information and assist them in locating and accessing services for children. The Department of Corrections must make this information available through its website and through existing toll-free telephone numbers. The Department of Corrections would provide the materials to inmates during orientation to ensure that children’s caregivers receive them, and materials would also be made available in correctional facility visiting and waiting areas.

According to the Community Renewal Society, children of the incarcerated are disproportionately poor, African American and Latino, and many continue the cycle of crime. The Community Research Society also reports that without intervention, a large percentage of children with parents involved in the criminal justice system are themselves likely to end up in the system.

Currie’s and Raoul’s bill now awaits the governor’s signature. The bill is supported by the Illinois Task Force for Children of Prisoners, Community Renewal Society, Lutheran Social Services of Illinois, Chicago Legal Advocacy for Incarcerated Mothers and the Illinois African-American Family Commission.

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