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| 1 | AN ACT concerning education.
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| 2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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| 3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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| 4 | Section 1. Short title. This Act may be cited as the Higher | ||||||
| 5 | Education in Prison Act. | ||||||
| 6 | Section 5. Higher education in prison programs. | ||||||
| 7 | (a) In this Section, "higher education" means | ||||||
| 8 | post-secondary academic education at the undergraduate or | ||||||
| 9 | graduate level in a community college or university setting. | ||||||
| 10 | (b) On or before September 1 of the year following the | ||||||
| 11 | effective date of this Act and each subsequent September 1, | ||||||
| 12 | the Department of Corrections shall release a report, to be | ||||||
| 13 | published on the Department of Corrections's Internet website, | ||||||
| 14 | detailing the following information pertaining to higher | ||||||
| 15 | education within Department institutions and facilities: | ||||||
| 16 | (1) the number of unique individuals involved in adult | ||||||
| 17 | basic education, high school equivalency, and credit and | ||||||
| 18 | non-credit bearing higher education programs over the | ||||||
| 19 | course of the fiscal year; | ||||||
| 20 | (2) the racial, ethnic, age, and gender breakdown of | ||||||
| 21 | committed persons participating in higher education | ||||||
| 22 | programs; | ||||||
| 23 | (3) the length of sentence and length of remaining | ||||||
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| 1 | sentence of persons enrolled in higher education programs; | ||||||
| 2 | (4) the number of committed persons who are on waiting | ||||||
| 3 | lists for participation in all educational programs, | ||||||
| 4 | including adult basic education, high school equivalency, | ||||||
| 5 | and higher education, and the average length of time spent | ||||||
| 6 | on each waiting list, including a breakdown by length of | ||||||
| 7 | remaining sentence; | ||||||
| 8 | (5) the total amount of earned program sentence credit | ||||||
| 9 | awarded to committed persons for participating in higher | ||||||
| 10 | education programs and the percentage of committed persons | ||||||
| 11 | participating in higher education programs that are | ||||||
| 12 | awarded earned program sentence credit; | ||||||
| 13 | (6) the number, category, and ultimate resolution of | ||||||
| 14 | grievances related to higher education programs; | ||||||
| 15 | (7) a financial statement that includes annual and | ||||||
| 16 | monthly expenditures of Department of Corrections | ||||||
| 17 | institutions and facilities on adult basic education, high | ||||||
| 18 | school equivalency, and higher education programs; and | ||||||
| 19 | (8) an explanation of how participation in adult basic | ||||||
| 20 | education, high school equivalency, and higher education | ||||||
| 21 | programs is factored into a committed persons' risk | ||||||
| 22 | assessment score. | ||||||
| 23 | Personal, identifiable information shall be redacted to | ||||||
| 24 | protect privacy. | ||||||
| 25 | The report must be filed with the Governor and General | ||||||
| 26 | Assembly. | ||||||
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| 1 | (c) The data provided in the report under subsection (b) | ||||||
| 2 | shall include an aggregate chart at the Department level and | ||||||
| 3 | individual reports by each correctional institution or | ||||||
| 4 | facility of the Department of Corrections. | ||||||
| 5 | (d) To facilitate the collection of information on higher | ||||||
| 6 | education in prison (HEP) programs, each 4-year public or | ||||||
| 7 | private institution of higher education with HEP degree or | ||||||
| 8 | certificate programs shall provide the Board of Higher | ||||||
| 9 | Education with student-level information as part of its | ||||||
| 10 | regular agency data-collection processes. Each public | ||||||
| 11 | community college with HEP degree or certificate programs | ||||||
| 12 | shall provide the Illinois Community College Board with | ||||||
| 13 | student-level information as part of its regular agency | ||||||
| 14 | data-collection processes. Upon request, the student-level | ||||||
| 15 | information shall include the correctional facility in which | ||||||
| 16 | the HEP program is being offered. The information provided to | ||||||
| 17 | the Board of Higher Education and the Illinois Community | ||||||
| 18 | College Board shall include HEP enrollment and completion data | ||||||
| 19 | disaggregated by variables, including but not limited to, | ||||||
| 20 | race, ethnicity, gender, age, and type of degree or | ||||||
| 21 | certificate. The Board of Higher Education and the Illinois | ||||||
| 22 | Community College Board shall annually make HEP program data | ||||||
| 23 | publicly available on their Internet websites.
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