Community Support

Community Support Transforms Lives of Ex-Offenders
By Lynn Sanders

An innovative program called Community Support Advisory Council (CSAC), an initiative of the Illinois Department of Corrections, is helping hundreds of ex-offenders learn how to become productive citizens while providing loving support to their families.

The work begins at the Sheridan Correctional Center, dedicated solely to drug treatment in the state of Illinois. Through CSAC, the formerly incarcerated meet with community and block leaders on a weekly basis right in their community, to find ways to re-enter society without returning to crime.

James Coleman, Project Director for CSAC’s Prisoner Re-Entry Services program, is an African-American minister, former chef and a formerly incarcerated individual himself. He helps former prisoners see the possibilities of a new life, from both inside and outside the Sheridan prison. Through his work with CSAC, Coleman serves as a liaison between the corrections system and the community, visiting men while they are in prison, and helping them with support when they return home. He also makes policy recommendations to the Department of Corrections and helps develop best practices which can be duplicated throughout Illinois prisons.

Block leaders and other interested community residents can attend a monthly meeting, where they meet with parole officers, police, social service providers and formerly incarcerated individuals, to discuss ways to help the returning inmate keep from returning to a life of crime. At these meetings, formerly incarcerated men are often given awards and citations for staying clean and “doing the right thing.”

CSAC also assists ex-offenders with housing, job leads and other immediate needs. Weekly Overcomers Group Meetings offer ex-offenders and their families an opportunity to share their troubles and find support from each other and the broader community.