University of Illinois Chicago report puts $1 billion price tag on recidivism in North Lawndale neighborhood

A new report finds repeat incarceration in one Chicago neighborhood has cost Illinois taxpayers more than $1 billion, but researchers say there's an easy way to break that cycle. 

A new report from the University of Illinois Chicago is putting a billion-dollar price tag on recidivism, or the cost of people returning to prison after they've been released, in the North Lawndale community. 

"They've made a mistake, they've served their time, they've re-entered back into society, but they can't find work," said Brenda Palms, president and CEO of the North Lawndale Employment Network. "It's not that people don't want to work, but they actually have significant challenges to employment."

Palms said the North Lawndale Employment Network has had the pleasure of training more than 20,000 job seekers returning from incarceration through their "Sweet Beginnings" program over the last 25 years. 

"Growth takes time, but we are making progress," she said.

Palms is no stranger to the barriers uncovered by UIC's Great Cities Institute, which examined more than two decades of data on employment, incarceration and economic conditions in North Lawndale.

Researchers found that between 2005 and 2024, recidivism among North Lawndale residents cost Illinois taxpayers at least $1 billion.

The recidivism rate in North Lawndale during that time was at 92 percent, one of the highest for any Chicago community area.

The average cost of incarceration was about $45,000 per person per year.

"I think don't we necessarily realize what has been the fiscal impact of incarceration," said Great Cities Institute director Teresa Córdova.

She helped present the researchers' findings at the City Club of Chicago on Tuesday, with a focus on how investments in community-based employment, social enterprise, and re-entry supports can generate outsized returns. 

"Our primary goal is how can we be of use?" she said.

For example, the Sweet Beginnings program shows significantly lower recidivism rates—below 10% for participants. Researchers also found, for every $1 invested in these kinds of programs, an estimated $5.60 in social and economic value is generated.

"That will save us as taxpayers money in the long run. So, money is better spent when it's reinvested in communities," Córdova said.

The report's authors said nearly 40% of people released from Illinois state prisons return to Chicago — many to already disinvested West and South Sides of the city.