There are two inmates sentenced to jail in St. Clair County set to be released from the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections during the week ending Feb. 19.
The inmate being released who served the longest time was Stephen Dennis for criminal sexual assault of a family member. Stephen Dennis spent more than 12 years incarcerated.
According to The Institute for Illinois’ Fiscal Sustainability, Illinois spends about $37,000 a year per incarcerated person. In a study by Prison Policy Initiative, Illinois’ incarceration rate was at 564 per 100,000, higher than every industrialized country, except the United States. When compared with its surrounding states, Illinois was the lowest. Kentucky and Missouri have rates over 850 per 100,000.
One of the issues is how pretrial detainees are now handled. The Vera Institute of Justice noted that pretrial detainees made up 71% of the total jail population.
Most prison inmates are released on some condition of supervised monitoring upon reentering civilian life. This monitoring can last from one year to the rest of someone’s life.
| Name | Offense | Supervised Release Date | Holding Facility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charles Lewis-Alston | aggravated domestic battery involving strangulation | 2022-02-13 | Big Muddy River Correctional Center |
| Stephen Dennis | criminal sexual assault of a family member | 2022-02-19 | Taylorville Correctional Center |
