The number of people released from Illinois prisons increased by 157 percent over the past two decades. Half of those released from prison in 2001 returned to the city of Chicago, and many were even more concentrated within a few distressed neighborhoods. This report describes the process of prisoner reentry in Illinois by examining the policy context surrounding reentry, the characteristics of Illinois' returning inmates, the geographic distribution of returning prisoners, and the social and economic climates of the communities that are home to the highest concentrations of returning prisoners. [View the corresponding press release]