Safer’s Sheridan job preparedness and placement program is unprecedented in its integration of substance abuse treatment with vocational preparedness training and work place acculturation to build on the talents, skills and attributes of approximately 1,000 participants each year. The Safer Foundation provides comprehensive job preparedness/placement programming to men incarcerated at the Sheridan Correctional Center, both during incarceration and after release.

Facts and Statistics to Date (as of January 1, 2006)

Recent studies have found that participation in prison education, job training, and placement programs is associated with improved outcomes, including reduced recidivism.(1)

Since April 2004, Safer Internal Job Preparedness/Placement Program facilitated:

• 2621 intakes/enrollments (including a standardized aptitude/interested test);
• 1229 individuals completed Safer’s Job Preparedness Class
• 2165 Job Shadowing Evaluations; 2354 Supervisor Contacts; for a grand total of 4519 total contacts (focused on soft and hard skills demonstrated in prison jobs)
• 1273 participants completed Safer’s inside prison program, with each one receiving a career portfolio (including 25 copies of resumes, cover letters, and certificates);

The Findings from Illinois Returning Home study showed that only 30 percent of the Illinois prison returnees found employment as of eight months after their release.(2)

Since April 2004, 1,150 individuals were released from Sheridan Correctional Institution and participated in the Safer External Job Preparedness/Placement Program following their release, of these:

• Over 50 percent returned to Cook County;
• Sheridan External Job Developers facilitated 820 interviews; and
• 45 percent of eligible clients are currently employed. 69 percent of these are working full time and 45% obtained their jobs within 30 days of release.
• Recidivism and arrest rates of Sheridan clients are over 50% lower than those released from other prisons in Illinois during the same time period.

Sheridan participants see an average starting wage of $9.94; with wages in Cook County at $10.71.

    1Gerald G. Gaes et al., “Adult Correctional Treatment,” in Michael Tonry and Joan Petersilia Oeds.), Prisons (Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 1999); Kim A. Hull et al., “Analysis of Recidivism Rates for Participants of the Academic/Vocational/Transition Education Programs Offered by the Virginia Department of Correctional Education,” Journal of Correctional Education 51, no 2 (2000): 256-61; Kenneth Adams et al., “A Large-Scale Multidimensional Test of the Effect of Prison Education on Prisoners’ Behavior,” The Prison Journal 74, no 4 (2001): 433-449.
    2Christy Visher, Shelli Rossman, Findings from Illinois Returning Home and Thoughts and Next Steps, (Washington DC: The Urban Institute, 2003).