Public Act 103-0541
 
HB3648 EnrolledLRB103 26177 RJT 52536 b

    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