Governor Pritzker has signed a bill making changes to Illinois’ Mandatory Supervised Release Program.

The idea is to ease re-entry into society and lower recidivism rates by improving education credits, so parolees are more likely to pursue a degree or vocation technical certificate. The law also ends random drug test, so that only those suspected of using are tested, and make a virtual check in program permanent.  Lieutenant Governor Julianna Stratton says it also makes the whole process more transparent.

Governor Pritzker says more than 100,000 people in Illinois are currently on probation, parole or mandatory supervised release, 25% of them end up back in prison within 3 years of release because of a technical violation, such as a missing a meeting with their probation officer.