Public Act 0541 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB3648 Enrolled LRB103 26177 RJT 52536 b

Public Act 103-0541

AN ACT concerning education.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Higher Education in Prison Act.

Section 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.

Effective Date: 1/1/2024