PONTIAC - Eric Brewer has been in and out of prison for the better part of 22 of his 39 years. | Video

Recently, the Pontiac Correctional Center inmate, currently serving time for theft and information falsification, stepped up to a microphone in front of prison officials and more than 200 other inmates and told them how he was determined never to see the inside of a jail cell again.

He'd heard about the opportunities that awaited him prior to his last release from a medium-security prison.

But it didn't help him stay out of Pontiac, though Brewer said this time will be different.

"It is now something where you have to get an education, and you really don't have a choice but to try to turn your life around," Brewer said later. "Because if you don't turn your life around, in the long run, you'll end up back here."

The prisoners were attending an informational "re-entry summit" sponsored by the Illinois Department of Corrections. Each was scheduled to be released in the near future.

It was the second summit at the Pontiac prison that is a target for closure by Gov. Rod Blagojevich.

The objective is to provide solutions to the problems of recidivism and failed societal reintegration, and to reverse those effects through stronger relations among offenders, community service providers and government agencies.

The need is obvious: DOC says about 40,000 inmates are released from Illinois prisons every year.

"It is all about re-entry . . . and we work with lots of groups in different communities around the state to help with that," said DOC spokesman Derek Schnapp, adding that "95 percent of the inmates in our prison system will eventually be released, so obviously we work hard on providing the possible tools when they get out."

To help, DOC has a laundry list of programs, both educational and vocational, to help inmates reintegrate back into society.

Those programs were among the reforms trumpeted last week by Blagojevich, who reported what he called historic reductions in crimes by former offenders.

An effort that began in 2004 giving prisoners and parolees greater access to education, job training, substance abuse treatment and counseling has led to a 23 percent drop in the general parolee population and a 40 percent decline in the intensive drug program at Sheridan prison, he said.

That, in turn, has saved the state an estimated $64 million in incarceration costs, said Blagojevich.

Recidivism at 50 percent

Still, as measured by DOC, the rate of recidivism - when a former inmate is sent back to prison - was 53.4 percent as of 2007. Recidivism is measured in three-year cycles, so the 2007 percentage is for inmates who were released in 2004. Previous figures were 51.8 percent in 2004 and 54.6 percent in 2001, Schnapp said.

"The reality is that offenders who are sent to prison are most likely going to be back in our communities sooner or later," Blagojevich said. "And when they return, if they don't have the skills and support to lead clean and productive lives, they are most likely going to end up committing crimes again."

At the same time, Illinois prisons remain filled with more prisoners than the facilities were designed for - a key argument by opponents who are fighting to prevent the Pontiac closure.

Currently, there are about 45,100 inmates in the Illinois Department of Corrections, including about 5,595 at four prisons in Central Illinois - Pontiac, Dwight and two in Lincoln. Of that number, 1,650 are housed at Pontiac, one of five maximum-security prisons in the state. Pontiac's capacity is 1,059, according to DOC.

And, the Rev. Thomas Shea, a Twin City prison activist, said the demand for services still far outweighs the services available.

"When people get out of prison, they really have no experience that leads them in the right direction," said Shea, who is assistant pastor at St. Patrick Church of Merna. "If you look at the prison population, there's a significant number that are functionally illiterate, and some of these people cannot operate or compete in the job market. There are also a lot of biases against those who are out of prison and seeking a job."

The Rev. John Brown, pastor of the Joyful Gospel Community Church at 411 E. Mulberry St. in Bloomington, has been working with inmates for 25 years. He formed the Joy Care Center to help inmates and their families with re-entry. Brown agreed there is a stigma people have against former inmates, but people need to see that some want to change for the better.

"A lot of them were dealt with a bad hand to start with and may have had a problem with education," he said. "If you don't get help to turn that around, then you will go back down that road to prison again."

Brown and a team of volunteers work with inmates to find them housing, counseling, jobs and other things to help them adjust on the outside. The need in the Twin City area seems to be great as Brown has seen, he said, noting he regularly talks with 10 to 15 people each week.

"I don't know too many people … who really want to go back to prison," he said. "Some of these people have been doing it for 20 years, and it might not change overnight because they don't have it in their mind that they can be a winner and can do great things."

Tools to succeed

Patricia Rusoff, re-entry employment program manager for the Illinois Department of Employment Security, said 2,000 Illinois inmates were able to be placed in jobs in 2007. Employers may want to hire former inmates for the incentives, such as tax credits, but the stigma continues, she said.

"Any employer doesn't really specifically set out to hire a bunch of ex-cons," she said. "There are industries that are struggling to find help because of their high turnover rate, such as the food industry and the customer service industry. Since the turnover rate is high, they are looking for someone willing to do the work, and former inmates tend to think they have a lot riding on this job."

Schnapp agreed the biggest factor in recidivism is the fact some inmates are not as equipped as they should be before being reintroduced into society.

"We just have to make sure that we provide them with the tools that they need to not recidivate," he said. "It's easy for an offender, who doesn't utilize the help that is out there, to go back to their old ways. What is hard to do is change."

Brewer, who entered the system at 17, can attest to that.

"We didn't have re-entry programs in the '80s and the '90s," he said. "People really didn't care about re-entry or other resources, but now it seems like . . . that they give you a lot of knowledge."

After his last return trip to prison, Brewer said never again - that he has a plan of what he needed to do get his life back together.

He enrolled in classes at Pontiac and expects to get his GED and become a truck driver. He said driving a truck would make him "stable" as he continues his education, and eventually allow him to begin a career in the culinary arts.

He never had such a specific plan in mind in the past, he said.

The slumping economy awaiting him and other Pontiac inmates - and the anxiety that goes with a tight job market, and high prices for food and gasoline - doesn't bother Brewer.

He thinks he'll find a job because he believes in his plan and feels he's prepared to face the challenges that come with being independent again.

With all of these challenges facing him, he said that there is another of even greater importance.

"I would probably say (that my biggest challenge) is to get to know my (three) kids, because of all the time that I have been here," he said. "I have never really had a relationship with them."