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    Cook County Jail

    Prisons and Jails
    A white bus parking in front of a brick wall with the words

    Cook County sheriff takes state officials to court over stalled prison transfers

    By Carlos Ballesteros and Chloe Hilles | September 23, 2021

    Sheriff Tom Dart filed a petition before the Illinois Supreme Court on Monday asking the justices to force the state department of corrections to accept the transfer of over 500 people from the Cook County Jail.

    News
    Illinois Supreme Court building

    Illinois speedy trial rights ordered reinstated — but not until October

    By Carlos Ballesteros | June 30, 2021

    The state Supreme Court is delaying the reactivation of speedy trial rights until October in order to give chief circuit judges statewide “at least 90 days to prepare,” according to a press release.

    News

    Cook County Jail begins demolishing vacant dormitories to make way for recreational space

    By Mauricio Peña (BlockClub Chicago) | June 26, 2021

    The deteriorating vacant dorms, built in the early 1900s, were “costly” and difficult to maintain, officials said during community meetings earlier this year.

    Data

    Court backlog leaves hundreds of people in Cook County Jail for more than a year

    By Carlos Ballesteros | April 28, 2021

    Covid-19 restrictions have led to a growing felony court backlog in Cook County. To clear it, “we have to move faster than normal,” one expert said.

    Commentary
    Envelope with

    Cook County Jail election guide rejection harms voters and the free press

    By Juliet Sorensen | October 29, 2020

    County officials say the jail mailroom accidentally rejected Injustice Watch’s judicial election guide. But accidents violate the Constitution, too.

    News
    More than 1,000 copies of Injustice Watch's judicial election guide

    Injustice Watch mailed its judicial election guide to 1,000 detainees at Cook County Jail. They never received them.

    By Carlos Ballesteros and Emily Hoerner | October 26, 2020

    Officials said workers in the jail’s mailroom incorrectly identified the election guides as contraband.

    News

    Lawsuit claiming Tom Dart unlawfully detained people after they posted bond can go forward

    By Steve Garrison | July 24, 2020

    The Cook County Sheriff’s policy to reject some people who had been ordered released on electronic monitoring may have violated the Fourth Amendment, an appellate court ruled.

    Data

    Why is the Cook County Jail population rising?

    By Connor Echols and Jonah Newman | July 17, 2020

    There are about 800 more people in the jail than there were in early May. Injustice Watch took a closer look at what’s causing the change.

    Commentary

    Federal Court intervenes as the humanitarian crisis in Cook County Jail grows

    By Flint Taylor | April 14, 2020

    The federal judge’s order didn’t go as far as some civil rights advocates had hoped. The ongoing work of pushing for structural change to the criminal justice system must continue.

    Coronavirus

    Former U. Chicago student, shot by police, has COVID-19 symptoms in Cook County jail

    By Jonah Newman | April 7, 2020

    Charles Thomas has been denied bond twice since mid-March, even as judges and prosecutors have said publicly that they are doing everything they can to release people from the jail.

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    About This Site

    Injustice Watch is a Chicago-based nonprofit news organization dedicated to investigating causes of systemic injustice, and helping point the path to a more just society.

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    We Recommend

    Las hospitalizaciones por Covid-19 en el Departamento de Correccionales de Illinois, provocan angustia a los seres queridos de los encarcelados

    Este artículo, publicado originalmente en inglés por Injustice Watch, está disponible en español gracias al proyecto "Traduciendo las noticias de Chicago", del Instituto de Noticias Sin Fines de Lucro (INN). Read in English.

    Our commitment to anti-racism

    We, the Injustice Watch staff, feel pain and anger, like so many in our community, over the police killing of George Floyd and the systemic racism his death represents. The list of Black people whose lives have been cut short by police brutality is excruciatingly long.

    2020 Judicial Primary Election Guide
    The scales of justice with a check mark and the words Check Your Judges

    13 states have never exonerated a prisoner based on DNA evidence. Here’s why.

    Hundreds of state prisoners have successfully used DNA evidence to win exonerations in the past three decades — except in 13 states. The states are Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Maine, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Dakota, and Vermont.

    Cook County judicial candidate, colleague misled jury into wrongful conviction

    This is the first of a series of Injustice Watch reports on candidates and campaigning for the Cook County Circuit Court 2018 elections.  Longtime Cook County Assistant State’s Attorney Michael Gerber achieved his lifelong dream in December 2016 when the state Supreme Court appointed him to the Cook County Circuit Court, filling a vacancy. But as he now runs to win a full six-year term, Gerber faces a potential obstacle: Another Cook County judge has ruled that Gerber and a second prosecutor made false statements to a jury that led to a wrongful conviction.

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    Injustice Watch is a nonpartisan, nonprofit journalism organization that conducts in-depth research exposing institutional failures that obstruct justice and equality.

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