That's the question reporter for the Illinois Times Patrick Yeagle asks in his cover story. He explores calls for putting fewer criminals in prison while sending more of them through rehabilitation programs. Yeagle writes about how "tough on crime" efforts of the 80s and 90s are being re-thought, though Illinois has been slow to join other states in revamping policies and laws.
The prison population in the US is far higher than that of any other nation. In Illinois alone, there are roughly 50,000 prisoners and $1.3 billion is spent on the prison system annually. Governor Bruce Rauner has created a bipartisan panel of legislators to look at the issue and suggest changes. Yeagle joined us to talk about what solutions are being suggested, and what the problems are in the first place:
Read the article here.
