Dying on Dart’s Watch

2023 was the deadliest year in the Cook County Jail on record, with 18 deaths, many of them from drug overdoses. An Injustice Watch investigation found lapses in supervision and medical care were at play in at least half the deaths. Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart failed to properly report the troubling circumstances behind many of the deaths to state regulators or families of the deceased.

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Daniel Colon’s sister, Jamie Colon, holds a middle-school graduation photo of her brother, who died last year in the Cook County Jail. Colon was one of 18 people who died at the jail in 2023, the highest mortality rate in at least two decades.

Cook County Jail’s deadliest year in decades reveals repeated lapses and failed oversight

Eighteen people died at the jail last year, and half of the deaths featured examples of inadequate supervision and medical care, an Injustice Watch investigation found. Sheriff Tom Dart blames detainees overdosing on drug-laced paper and says he’s addressed the problem, but experts say there’s a renewed need for oversight.

by Carlos Ballesteros

Additional reporting

Project Contributors

Reporting by Carlos Ballesteros
Editing by David Kidwell
Photographs by Abel Uribe and Sebastián Hidalgo for Injustice Watch
Illustrations by Veronica Martinez