West Central Reporter

There are two inmates sentenced in Pike County set to be released from jail in January, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections.

Leah R. Westemeyer, who served the longest sentence among them, spent more than one year incarcerated for possession of meth under 5 grams.

According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Illinois spends about $45,828 a year per incarcerated person. In a 2023 study by the Prison Policy Initiative, the state's incarceration rate was at 433 per 100,000, higher than every industrialized country, except the United States. When compared with its surrounding states, Illinois was the lowest. Kentucky and Missouri have rates over 700 per 100,000.

One of the reasons behind jail growth is how pretrial detainees are handled. Another study by the Prison Policy Initiative noted that the number of unconvicted individuals was more than two times higher than convicted individuals.

Most prison inmates are released on some condition of supervised monitoring upon reentering civilian life. This monitoring can last from one year to the rest of someone’s life.

Name	Offense	Supervised Release Date	Holding Facility
Lance W. Dixon-Brockhouse	Possession of meth under 5 grams	01/01/2025	Lincoln Correctional Center
Leah R. Westemeyer	Possession of meth under 5 grams	01/07/2025	Decatur Correctional Center