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Lake County Gazette

Monday, January 6, 2025

Q3 Recap: 4 parolees from Lake County convicted of financial crimes or fraud set for supervised release

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Alyssa Williams, Assistant Director at IDOC | Illinois Department of Corrections oficial website

Alyssa Williams, Assistant Director at IDOC | Illinois Department of Corrections oficial website

There were four offenders convicted of financial crimes or fraud living in Lake County released on parole during the third quarter of 2024, according to Illinois Department of Corrections data obtained by the Lake County Gazette.

The data shows that two men and two women were among the parolees. The median age of the parolees sentenced for financial crimes or fraud was 40. The youngest parolee was a 34-year-old man sentenced in 2023, and the oldest was a 48-year-old woman sentenced in 2024.

The offender who had been incarcerated the longest was Todd J. Liszka. He was convicted in 2023 when he was 33 years old. He is now 34.

Commonly referred to as parole in Illinois, Mandatory Supervised Release (MSR) is a post-prison supervision period, in which individuals must follow specific rules like check-ins with parole officers; violations can lead to re-incarceration. Unlike parole, MSR is automatically required for all individuals released after serving a prison sentence.

In 2023, Gov. JB Pritzker signed a bill to reform Illinois’ Mandatory Supervised Release program. The law aims to reduce recidivism and reportedly create a more effective and equitable supervision system by incentivizing education, streamlining the review process, and expanding virtual check-ins.

“Our current supervision system too often operates unfairly, with rules that make it simply a revolving door back to jail,” Pritzker said at a bill signing ceremony in Chicago. “In fact, more than 25% of people who are released from prison in Illinois end up back behind bars, not because they’re recidivists, but instead for a noncriminal technical violation.”

A 2018 report from the Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council indicated that 43% of released prisoners in Illinois return to prison within three years, costing taxpayers an estimated $152,000 per recidivism event.

Prisoners convicted of financial crimes or fraud paroled in Q3 2024
CountyTotal Number of Parolees% Women% MenMedian age
Cook County175.9%94.1%39
Lake County450%50%40
Peoria County40%100%40.5
Tazewell County333.3%66.7%37
Williamson County20%100%44
Will County20%100%35
Crawford County250%50%34.5
Vermilion County250%50%40
St. Clair County2100%0%39
Saline County20%100%30.5
Woodford County10%100%34
Whiteside County1100%0%34
Randolph County10%100%42
Morgan County1100%0%37
McDonough County10%100%30
Kane County10%100%39
Jefferson County10%100%51
DuPage County10%100%26
Christian County10%100%32
Champaign County1100%0%27
Adams County10%100%51

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