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Cook County Jail emerges from 43 years of federal oversight
Four decades ago, overcrowding and poor staffing in the Cook County Jail led to federal court oversight of the sprawling complex on the Southwest Side. But last week, U.S. District Judge Virginia...
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Kim Foxx: Low-risk defendants should go free before trial
Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx on Monday announced that her office will urge judges to let low-risk defendants go free while they are awaiting trial. Foxx, who campaigned on a platform of...
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Evans unveils ‘significant’ step to get nonviolent people out of jail
Cook County’s top judge on Monday ordered his fellow judges who conduct bond court to release all defendants who pose no criminal danger to the public, veering sharply away from a cash-for-bond system...
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Cook County Jail giving departing inmates overdose-reversing drug
The Cook County Jail — the largest single-site jail in the country — has trained about 900 inmates to use naloxone nasal spray devices since last summer and has distributed 400 of them to at-risk men...
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Suit: Teenager sexually assaulted woman while on electronic monitoring
A woman is suing Cook County because she was sexually assaulted by a 15-year-old boy while he was on electronic home monitoring last year, claiming the county released the boy to try and save money....
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Suit: Jail guards retaliated when woman rejected sexual advances
A woman suing Cook County, Sheriff Tom Dart and several correctional officers claims she was repeatedly sexually harassed at the Cook County Jail. When she turned down a guard’s sexual advances and...
View ArticlePublic defenders pushed to breaking point by masturbating inmates
Staffers in the Cook County Public Defender’s Office are used to clients who may have done horrible things, but over the last two years, female employees say their clients have become more brazen in...
View ArticleEDITORIAL: Fight between CPS and inspector general benefits no one
The job of the Chicago Board of Education inspector general is to investigate allegations of fraud and financial mismanagement in city schools. It’s not surprising then that the boss of Chicago Public...
View ArticleFemale sheriff’s officers sue Dart over masturbating jail inmates
Three female corrections officers at the Cook County Jail have filed a lawsuit claiming that Sheriff Tom Dart has not done enough to protect them from inmates who threaten and grope female guards and...
View ArticleMITCHELL: Tougher sanctions needed to curb detainees’ indecent acts
It wasn’t funny when comedian Louis C.K. did it. And it certainly isn’t funny when someone, already facing criminal charges, takes out his junk and masturbates in the presence of the person who is...
View ArticleAnother lawsuit filed over inmates masturbating at Cook County Jail
Some three dozen female jail guards have sued Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart for failing to stop daily occurrences of detainees masturbating in front of them, and allowing supervisors to discourage them...
View ArticleRev. Jackson to Cook County inmates: ‘Jail is not a hotel’
The Rev. Jesse Jackson said he relies on daily physical therapy, medication and prayer to manage Parkinson’s disease, but he showed few signs of slowing down Monday as he carried on a decades-old...
View ArticleLETTERS: Nuclear plant safety is Exelon’s top priority
At Exelon Generation, we are committed to operating our plants safely and responsibly, being a good neighbor and supporting our local communities. Our nuclear fleet has one of the best safety records...
View ArticleCook County Jail detainee charged with threatening his public defender
A detainee at the Cook County Jail has been charged with threatening his public defender. About 11 a.m. Wednesday, Michael Roberson, 34, threatened his assistant public defender with physical harm in a...
View ArticleAs snow blankets Chicagoland, a third of Cook County jail guards called in sick
More than 250 Cook County corrections officers called in sick Friday morning in a wave of illness jail officials suspect has more to do with the foot of snow covering the Chicago area than an outbreak....
View ArticleCook County Jail guards lock down sweet union contract—despite sour budget mess
Life is becoming at least a bit sweeter for the guards at the Cook County jail, even as county government slashes hundreds of jobs to plug the huge deficit caused by the repeal of the unpopular tax on...
View ArticleVIDEO: Cook County Jail detainees applaud CPD commander’s alleged killer
Cook County jail officials are looking to reprimand several detainees who were captured on surveillance video Thursday applauding Shomari Legghette after his initial court appearance on charges of...
View ArticleLawsuit: Sheriff spared ‘Director of Acupuncture’ from layoffs—Dart says baloney
Cook County Sheriff Thomas Dart dumped high-ranking jail officers to cut payroll following the repeal of a countywide tax on sugary drinks, but kept political appointees who supervised acupuncture,...
View Article4 Cook County Jail detainees charged with robbing another detainee: video
Authorities released video Tuesday afternoon allegedly showing four detainees robbing another detainee on a Cook County Department of Corrections bus while they were in transit. The robbery happened...
View ArticleToni Preckwinkle, the most powerful Democrat in Cook County, holds cards close
She’s weathered two fierce tax wars. She’s the freshly elected chair of the Cook County Democratic Party, the first woman and African American to anchor that power base. In November, she will be...
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Man charged with sexually assaulting cellmate at Cook County Jail
A man charged with sexually assaulting his cellmate at the Cook County Jail was denied bail Monday. Carlos Ruiz, 21, is facing a charge of aggravated criminal sexual assault in the Oct. 24, 2016 attack...
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Sheriff accused of ‘secretly’ recording jail detainees in holding cell bathrooms
A federal class-action lawsuit filed Wednesday accuses the Cook County sheriff and his office of violating tens of thousands of pre-trial detainees’ privacy with surveillance cameras that allow...
View ArticleEDITORIAL: Donald Trump joins the fight, we hope, to end draconian prison...
On Thursday, for the first time in decades, the inmate population at Cook County Jail dipped below 5,900. It was a welcomed milestone, another sign that criminal justice reform is making headway. But...
View ArticleDaley crime strategy includes thousands more surveillance cameras and drones
Mayoral candidate Bill Daley on Thursday unveiled an ambitious crime-fighting strategy that calls for “thousands” more surveillance cameras, drones to watch the bad guys from above and $50 million for...
View ArticleInmate accused of hiring undercover cop to kill witnesses in murder case
A Cook County Jail inmate has been accused of hiring an undercover police officer to kill three witnesses tied to the murder case he was previously charged in. Justin Smith, 32, has been held at the...
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