730 ILCS 225/ Higher Education in Prison Act.

Updating the database of the Illinois Compiled Statutes (ILCS) is an ongoing process. Recent laws may not yet be included in the ILCS database, but they are found on this site as Public Acts soon after they become law. For information concerning the relationship between statutes and Public Acts, refer to the Guide.

Because the statute database is maintained primarily for legislative drafting purposes, statutory changes are sometimes included in the statute database before they take effect. If the source note at the end of a Section of the statutes includes a Public Act that has not yet taken effect, the version of the law that is currently in effect may have already been removed from the database and you should refer to that Public Act to see the changes made to the current law.

730 ILCS 225/1

(730 ILCS 225/1)
Sec. 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Higher Education in Prison Act.
(Source: P.A. 103-541, eff. 1-1-24.)

730 ILCS 225/5

    (730 ILCS 225/5)
    Sec. 5. Higher education in prison programs.

(a) In this Section, "higher education" means post-secondary academic education at the undergraduate or graduate level in a community college or university setting.

(b) On or before September 1 of the year following the effective date of this Act and each subsequent September 1, the Department of Corrections shall release a report, to be published on the Department of Corrections's Internet website, detailing the following information pertaining to higher education within Department institutions and facilities:

(1) the number of unique individuals involved in

adult basic education, high school equivalency, and credit and non-credit bearing higher education programs over the course of the fiscal year;

(2) the racial, ethnic, age, and gender breakdown of

committed persons participating in higher education programs;

(3) the length of sentence and length of remaining

sentence of persons enrolled in higher education programs;

(4) the number of committed persons who are on

waiting lists for participation in all educational programs, including adult basic education, high school equivalency, and higher education, and the average length of time spent on each waiting list, including a breakdown by length of remaining sentence;

(5) the total amount of earned program sentence

credit awarded to committed persons for participating in higher education programs and the percentage of committed persons participating in higher education programs that are awarded earned program sentence credit;

(6) the number, category, and ultimate resolution of

grievances related to higher education programs;

(7) a financial statement that includes annual and

monthly expenditures of Department of Corrections institutions and facilities on adult basic education, high school equivalency, and higher education programs; and

(8) an explanation of how participation in adult

basic education, high school equivalency, and higher education programs is factored into a committed persons' risk assessment score.

    Personal, identifiable information shall be redacted to protect privacy.
    The report must be filed with the Governor and General Assembly.

(c) The data provided in the report under subsection (b) shall include an aggregate chart at the Department level and individual reports by each correctional institution or facility of the Department of Corrections.

(d) To facilitate the collection of information on higher education in prison (HEP) programs, each 4-year public or private institution of higher education with HEP degree or certificate programs shall provide the Board of Higher Education with student-level information as part of its regular agency data-collection processes. Each public community college with HEP degree or certificate programs shall provide the Illinois Community College Board with student-level information as part of its regular agency data-collection processes. Upon request, the student-level information shall include the correctional facility in which the HEP program is being offered. The information provided to the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board shall include HEP enrollment and completion data disaggregated by variables, including but not limited to, race, ethnicity, gender, age, and type of degree or certificate. The Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community College Board shall annually make HEP program data publicly available on their Internet websites.

(Source: P.A. 103-541, eff. 1-1-24.)