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Prison gerrymandering

Illinois has an incarceration rate of 497 per 100,000 people (including prisons, jails, immigration detention, and juvenile justice facilities), meaning that it locks up a higher percentage of its people than almost any democracy on earth. Read on to learn more about who is incarcerated in Illinois and why.

53,000 people from Illinois are behind bars

Additionally, the number of people impacted by county and city jails in Illinois is much larger than the graph above would suggest, because people cycle through local jails relatively quickly. Each year, at least 173,000 different people are booked into local jails in Illinois.

Rates of imprisonment have grown dramatically in the last 40 years

Also see these Illinois graphs:

• total numbers rather than rates.
• Women’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population
• Men’s prisons: Incarceration Rates | Total Population

Today, Illinois’s incarceration rates stand out internationally

In the U.S., incarceration extends beyond prisons and local jails to include other systems of confinement. The U.S. and state incarceration rates in this graph include people held by these other parts of the justice system, so they may be slightly higher than the commonly reported incarceration rates that only include prisons and jails. Details on the data are available in States of Incarceration: The Global Context. We also have a version of this graph focusing on the incarceration of women.

People of color are overrepresented in prisons and jails

Illinois's criminal justice system is more than just its prisons and jails

The high cost of being incarcerated in Illinois

Prisons and jails in Illinois are increasingly shifting the cost of incarceration to people behind bars and their families, hiding the true economic costs of mass incarceration:

• Jails in Illinois charge up to $3.15 for a 15-minute phone call, reaping profits for companies, while prisons charge 15¢ for a 15-minute call.
• Illinois is one of the handful of states that does not charge medical copays in prisons.
• Illinois prisons charge families up to a 35% fee to transfer money to an incarcerated loved one.
• People in Illinois prisons who have more than $5 in their commissary account likely do not qualify for assistance to purchase essentials like hygiene products and postage.
• People in Illinois prisons earn as little as 9¢ an hour for their work.
• The Company Store: A deeper look at prison commissaries in Illinois
• New data: Low incomes — but high fees — for people on probation in Illinois
• Illinois charges up to 15¢ for an e-message to or from prison.

Our other articles about Illinois

• The cost of incarcerating older people is incredibly high, and their risk of reincarceration is incredibly low, yet 12% of people in Illinois prisons are over the age of 55. Why is the state keeping so many older people locked up?
• Data from Cook County and other jurisdictions shows: Releasing people pretrial doesn't harm public safety
• Illinois makes it difficult or even risky for incarcerated journalists to tell their stories.
• Detailed Illinois data show that hundreds of people in shadowy "civil commitment" facilities are being held past their sentences and subjected to psychologically damaging treatment
• Illinois passed a caregiver mitigation and diversion law that allows primary caregivers to submit a Family Impact Statement at sentencing — which could allow them to remain in the community.
• Illinois has two jail-based polling locations — in Cook County and Will county — that enable people detained in the facilities to cast ballots in elections
• Illinois prisons release about 23,791 people every year
• In some Illinois prisons, incarcerated people are forced to drink and breathe contaminants
• We graded the parole release systems of all 50 states - Illinois gets an F-
• Who's helping the 36,065 women released from Illinois correctional facilities each year?

Other resources

• Research on Illinois in our Research Library

Data on COVID-19 in Illinois jails and prisons

We gave Illinois a "D" grade in September 2021 for its response to the coronavirus in prisons, noting that:

• We estimate that prisons and jails led to an additional 47,298 COVID-19 cases in Illinois in the summer of 2020 alone.
• Illinois failed to utilize one of the most obvious, and easiest, tools for reducing the prison population — stopping prison admissions for technical violations of probation and parole (which are not crimes).

For more detail, see our report States of Emergency. Or check out these other resources:

• How many COVID-19 cases in Illinois communities can be linked to outbreaks in correctional facilities? (data from our report Mass Incarceration, COVID-19, and Community Spread)

Prison-based gerrymandering in Illinois

• In February 2021, Illinois passed a law ending prison gerrymandering.
• Importing Constituents: Prisoners and Political Clout in Illinois