Email exchanges have advocates and a key Cook County commissioner fearing that the sheriff had not fully abandoned a controversial gang data base even as plans to decommission its use were taking place. The sheriff’s office responded that the concerns are baseless.
Illinois Corrections Department officials have been ordering prisoners, released on parole, to wear electronic monitoring even without a court order. On Wednesday a State House committee voted to restrict the use of electronic monitoring, after a hearing that advocates said puts Illinois on the cutting edge on the issue. The bill now goes to the full House.
Cook County board committee unanimously supports ending county database of alleged gang members. The action was pushed by community groups who long contended the data was unreliable and caused lasting harm to those listed. The ordinance now goes to the county board for a vote Thursday.
George Alvarez pleaded guilty to assaulting a police officer before a video emerged that painted a different picture. But a federal appellate court said the prosecutor had no duty to alert Alvarez of the video before his plea.
Nine months after an amended state law, designed to address prison overcrowding by broadening opportunities for inmates to shave up to six months off their sentences, went into effect, doubts have emerged about whether the Illinois Department of Corrections is doing enough to carry out the law.
Traditionally Cook County Circuit Court judges easily win retention every six years, with voters paying little attention to those races at the bottom of their ballots. This year, however, a confluence of events may change all that.
