Who Do Truth-in-Sentencing Laws Serve?
By Elbonie Burnside and Margaret DeFrancisco
Exploring the impact of Truth-in-Sentencing (TIS) laws and consequences for incarcerated individuals, their families, and society as a whole.
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 opened the door for each state in the country to adopt the Truth-in-Sentencing (TIS) law in exchange for federal incentives.
TIS required a state to build prisons, maximize bed space, and hold violent offenders in prison for lengthy periods of time — 75%, 85%, or 100% of their prison term depending on the charge for which they are incarcerated. By comparison, prior to the enactment of the TIS law in 1998, violent offenders could serve 50% of their prison sentence, or even as little as 44% if they received credit for participating in educational and rehabilitative programming.
Illinois is one of 40 states that met the requirement for federal grants that came along with adopting the truth-in-sentence statute. The state currently has 28 prisons and a prison population of nearly 30,000 people.
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was dubbed one of the greatest pieces of legislation of its time. In particular, the TIS law appealed to society and victims of harm because longer sentences satisfied their desire to feel safe in their communities. In Illinois, supporting the “tough on crime” policy allowed politicians to be re-elected.
However, the effects of TIS have caused more harm than anyone anticipated for multiple reasons, including its direct link to mass incarceration and poverty. Black people are incarcerated at a much higher rate than white people—up to eight times higher.
And lower-income communities suffer the most from having a family member incarcerated, especially if the family member is the breadwinner. Long absences put a financial and economic burden on the family. One study found that mass incarceration increased the U.S. poverty rate by an estimated 20 percent. Another study found that if a father is incarcerated, a family’s probability of being poor increases by 40%.
TIS not only puts more people in prison for longer, but it is also a roadblock standing in the path of redemption by withholding tools and incentives necessary for a person in prison to rehabilitate and succeed. With so many prisoners serving long sentences, many prisons prioritize giving educational opportunities to those who are being released earlier. Moreover, those who are sentenced under TIS are not incentivized to participate in education because they receive no good-time credits that can speed up their release. By taking away any hope of release and any education or educational incentives, the law takes away all hope.
There is no greater cruelty than taking away hope.
The law also violates the Illinois Constitution, Article 1, Section 11, which states, “All penalties shall be determined both according to the seriousness of the offense and with the objective of restoring the offender to useful citizenship.” Because TIS is drafted to ignore rehabilitation, the law stands in the way of restoring the offender to useful citizenship.
To understand the impact of TIS on both the incarcerated and society, we have to look no further than the Northwestern Prison Education Program (NPEP). Northwestern has brought its educational and restorative justice practices inside two prisons in Illinois. Combined, Stateville and Logan Correctional Centers house nearly 100 NPEP students aiming to better themselves through programming and rehabilitation in hopes of being restored to society. Yet the TIS law prevents that goal from happening.
Although statistics have shown conclusively that higher education reduces recidivism, lawmakers choose to ignore this claim. Nonetheless, the NPEP students enrolled in an undergraduate degree program continue to fight for liberation through their actions.
And by enforcing the long sentences of these students, instead of allowing reduced sentences based on educational attainment, TIS is costing the citizens of Illinois millions of dollars. Here’s how: By the time each NPEP student graduates from Northwestern, they will have earned a bachelor’s degree in social science. If it were not for TIS, this education would be worth a reduction of 180 days from their sentence. Yet, under TIS, these students are ineligible for an award of sentence credits because the award would reduce the sentences below 85% or 100%. If it were not for TIS, students could also receive additional sentence credits for job assignments and participation in additional programming.
There are nearly 100 NPEP students, and the amount of sentence credit for these students is approximately 49 years. Since the average annual cost for each person in custody is $54,000, requiring NPEP students under TIS to serve maximum sentences is costing taxpayers almost $2.5 million dollars.
Are the state's lawmakers serving society by allowing the taxpayers to continue to pay money for people who have paid their retribution and are no longer a threat to the communities? Are lawmakers serving incarcerated people by not restoring them to useful citizenship? Wouldn’t taxpayers’ hard-earned money be better spent if allocated to employ police officers and teachers and to repair the state’s damaged infrastructure?
Along with shedding light onto this poorly constructed bill, we are writing this to urge Illinoisans to become involved and knowledgeable on how their money is spent. We implore you to call your local legislators and ask them to support Senate Bill 2129 and House Bill 3373, the Illinois Earned Reentry Bill, so that all offenders receive the earned sentence credits that they worked diligently to obtain. We also recommend that you visit the websites of Parole Illinois and Families Against Mandatory Minimum and support the actions these organizations are taking to reinstate earned reentry and parole in Illinois.
Finally, we ask that you join us in imploring Illinois and the carceral system to truly embrace their constitutional responsibility to rehabilitate rather than merely incarcerate.
Demand Elected Officials Take Action!
Reach out to your local lawmakers using the following script.
Include your own experiences to encourage lawmakers to take action on TIS laws.
Dear [Lawmaker's Name],
I am writing to urge your reevaluation of Truth-in-Sentencing (TIS) laws in Illinois. The current system, incentivized by the 1994 Crime Bill, has led to mass incarceration and disproportionately impacted Black communities. TIS not only exacerbates poverty but also obstructs rehabilitation by denying prisoners access to education and incentives for early release. This contradicts the Illinois Constitution's objective of restoring offenders to useful citizenship. I implore you to champion reforms that strike a balance between public safety and rehabilitation, ensuring a fair and just system for all.
Sincerely,
[Your Name]
