Federal Prison Offense Sentences in the Northern District of Illinois, FY2016–2025
In the Northern District of Illinois, 22 people were sentenced for prison offenses in fiscal years 2018 to 2025. Of those, 21 (95%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 18 months. The count is small, so the figures describe a handful of cases and not a pattern.
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Northern District of Illinois, FY20 › Prison Offense: Northern District of Illinois
In brief: In the Northern District of Illinois, 22 people were sentenced for prison offenses in fiscal years 2018 to 2025. Of those, 21 (95%) received a prison term, and the median prison term was 18 months. The count is small, so the figures describe a handful of cases and not a pattern.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 22 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
How Many People Were Sentenced, and to What?
The U.S. Sentencing Commission has an offense type called "Prison Offenses." In the Northern District of Illinois, 22 people fell into that category in fiscal years 2018 to 2025. Prison offenses made up less than 1% of the 6,211 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
Of the 22, 21 (95%) received a prison term. One person (5%) received probation only, with no prison or other confinement.
Among those sent to prison, a quarter received 28 months or more, and a quarter received 12 months or less.
Which Guidelines Applied?
The offense type is the Commission's own category, and it groups cases by the primary sentencing guideline. The most common primary guideline was §2P1.2 (Providing or Possessing Contraband in Prison), with 14 people. The next was §2P1.1 (Escape, Instigating or Assisting Escape), with 7 people.
No mandatory minimum prison term applied to any of the 22 people with that information recorded.
How the Sentences Compared With the Guideline Range
Of the 22 people with the information, 17 (77%) were sentenced within the guideline range. 4 (18%) were sentenced below the range without a government request, and 1 (5%) was sentenced above it. None was sentenced below the range at the government's request.
Across all 94 federal districts, 63% of prison offense sentences were within the guideline range. For all offenses in the Northern District of Illinois, the figure was 29%. Prison offense sentences in this district were within the range more often than both of those.
Guilty Pleas and Plea Agreements
Of the 22 people, 20 (91%) pleaded guilty, and 2 were convicted after a trial. For all prison offense cases in the 94 districts, 99% pleaded guilty. For all offenses in the district, the figure was 93%.
Among the guilty pleas, 80% had a written plea agreement, and 20% were straight pleas with no agreement.
The median prison term was 19 months after a guilty plea. After a trial it was 12 months, but that figure rests on 1 person, so it cannot be compared in any meaningful way.
Prison Terms Compared With All Districts and All Offenses
The median prison term for prison offenses in this district was 18 months. For this offense type in all 94 districts, it was 10 months, and 96% of people were sent to prison. For all offenses in the Northern District of Illinois, the median prison term was 42 months.
After prison, 7 people (32%) were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months. No fine and no restitution was ordered for any of the 22.
Year by Year
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 4 people in this category, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 18. Federal fiscal years run from the start of October to the end of September. Yearly counts range from 1 to 6 people, so the medians in the table move a great deal and should not be read as a trend.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2 | 18 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2019 | 2 | 36 months | 1 of 2 |
| 2020 | 1 | 18 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2021 | 1 | 7 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2022 | 2 | 13 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2023 | 4 | 26.5 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2024 | 6 | 14.5 months | 5 of 6 |
| 2025 | 4 | 27.5 months | 4 of 4 |
What These Records Cannot Show
The Commission counts only people who were convicted and sentenced. Acquittals and dismissals are not in it. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not time served.
Criminal history was spread across categories: 5% were in the lowest category and 23% in the highest. The records do not describe the facts of any case. Great Lakes, Illinois, is a military installation in this district, but courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal court.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Illinois North") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Prison Offenses" (22). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Federal Sentences in the Northern District of Illinois, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Northern District of Illinois, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Northern District of Illinois, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Northern District of Illinois, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Robbery Sentences in the Northern District of Illinois, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.