By Adam Testa, The Southern | Posted: Wednesday, December 30, 2009 4:00 am

A pilot program through the Illinois Department of Human Services aimed at keeping youth out of prison saved the state more than $2.3 million and kept 48 young people out of prison from 2005 to 2007 in 12 Southern Illinois counties.
Now, a new law effective Jan. 1 will remove the word "pilot" from the name and open participation in the Redeploy Illinois program to all 102 counties in the state.

"There's concrete evidence that the project has been successful," said Tom Green, spokesman for IDHS. "It has been able to help divert youth from going directly into the criminal justice system."

Redeploy Illinois, which launched as a pilot program in 2005 in Macon, Peoria and St. Clair counties, as well as the 12 counties of the 2nd Judicial Circuit (Crawford, Edwards, Franklin, Gallatin, Hamilton, Hardin, Jefferson, Lawrence, Richland, Wabash, Wayne and White), aims to keep youth in their home communities where they will receive help, guidance and probation rather than being sent to one of the state's youth camp facilities, including those in Murphysboro and Harrisburg.

"They react to what they experience every day," said George Timberlake, a retired judge in the 2nd Judicial Circuit and board member of Juvenile Justice Initiative, noting participants in the program have seen a decline in recidivism. "This is really, really a good approach."

Under the pilot program, only counties that had 10 or more juvenile offenders going to prison in a year were allowed to participate, which limited many of the smaller counties, especially those in Southern Illinois, where the 2nd Judicial Circuit applied as a district to meet the criteria, he said. The new law will open enrollment to all counties and make them eligible for financial reimbursements for participating.

Mary Reynolds, a policy advocate with the Springfield-based Juvenile Justice Institute, said youth often make mistakes and should not have their entire lives tarnished because of it.

"You're trying to change their behavior instead of sending them away and putting them in prison," she said of the program and the second chances it has offered dozens of youths across the state.

This article was submitted by Javier Stauring. To submit an article, email srahimi[at]burnsinstitute.org.