Cook County Jail - Unofficial

04/17/2022

Two Cook County judges suggested bumpy, possibly long roads ahead as Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx tries to get them to reduce the sentences of a convicted home invader and a serial burglar.

04/16/2022

The state's new "resentencing" law, which might put three serial offenders back on the street early this week, is unconstitutional, a 27-year veteran prosecutor says.

04/15/2022

Prosecutors in Illinois will not file charges against the Chicago police officers who fatally shot Adam Toledo and Anthony Alvarez on separate occasions in 2021, Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx announced Tuesday.

04/14/2022

SPRINGFIELD — A backlog of cases before the Illinois Office of the State Appellate Defender that the agency’s leader once described as a “crisis in the criminal justice system” has

04/13/2022

In the continuing saga of the largest scandal in Chicago Police Department history, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s office dug in Tuesday on the convictions of nearly 40 individuals who said they were framed by corrupt Sgt. Ronald Watts and the officers he supervised at the former Ida B. Well...

04/12/2022

This is a fantastic precedent set by the First District Appellate Court. It allows for those appealing their convictions to stay their prison sentence if their sentence would be complete before the Court could rule on their appeal.

Actor Jussie Smollett walked out of the Cook County Jail on Wednesday night after an Illinois appeals court ruled that he should be released on bond pending the outcome of the appeal of the guilty verdict in his case, and his attorneys praised the decision and said it was a victory for the American....

04/11/2022

This policy seems so watered-down that the police can just keep chasing people like they did before.

Whatever the final policy is, it will provide the first official, completed guidelines for Chicago police officers who engage in foot pursuits.

04/10/2022

SPRINGFIELD — Chicago attorney Alan Mills has a client on the Illinois Prisoner Review Board’s clemency docket in April. His hearing has been indefinitely postponed because there is no longer

04/09/2022

A bill that calls on providing juveniles in the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections to be allowed to remote learn has passed the Senate. “I thank my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the Senate for supporting this legislation today. This removes a systemic barrier for yout...

04/08/2022

Astarte Washington was injured as police responded to unrest in Roseland after the killing of George Floyd in 2020.

04/07/2022

75% of felony cases must be closed in 18 months, and 98% by 30 months.

Illinois Supreme Court Announces Time Standards for Case Closure in Trial Courts The Illinois Supreme Court announced today a new order which for the first time establishes Time Standards for Case Closure in the Illinois Trial Courts (Time Standards), effective July 1, 2022, for cases filed on or af...

04/05/2022

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — A federal prosecutor says three Illinois state prison guards brutally beat a handcuffed 65-year-old inmate and conspired to cover it up. Assistant U. S. Attorney Timothy Bass opened the trial Monday of Illinois Department of Corrections officers Todd Sheffler and Alex....

04/04/2022

CHICAGO — A federal judge has approved an extension of the Chicago Police Department’s consent decree — the series of court-mandated reforms born out of the fatal shooting of Laquan McDonald in 201…

04/03/2022

A new measure was passed to the House by Senate for the elimination of using the word "alien" when referring to immigrants in law-based settings. State Senator Mike Simmons, D-Chicago, fights to remove this barrier to full inclusion for immigrant communities in Illinois. As the son of an Ethiopian i...

04/02/2022

An Illinois law that took effect in January bars police from lying to minors during interrogations, but it didn’t help a wrongfully accused juvenile, his lawyer says.

03/15/2022

Michael Williams, a 65-year-old grandfather from Chicago, sat behind bars for nearly a year accused of murder

03/14/2022

Three Cook County Jail officers were hospitalized for smoke inhalation after a fire broke out at the jail on Sunday.

03/04/2022

CHICAGO (AP) — Content warning: This story contains mention of suicidal thoughts and death.

03/03/2022

Roger BelAir has brought the sport to jails and prisons in New York, Illinois, California and beyond.

03/02/2022

“Jails, prisons, and immigration detention centers are another form of environmental violence on immigrant and communities of color,” argues LVEJO in its “Statement on Violence, Policing, and Immigration.” The Cook County Jail, for example, covers 96 acres of land, which is more than twice the amount of total green space in the neighborhood. “Much more land and resources are dedicated to policing and incarceration than to green space in Little Village, a demonstration of how environmental injustice and violence intersect.”

Since 2000, toxic tours in this community have evolved from talking about pollution, to now include systemic racism, policing, and mass incarceration.

03/01/2022

On election day in 2020, the Cook County Jail was busy. Individuals in the jail who retained their ability to vote were able to cast their ballots and participate in the democratic process with relatively little hassle

02/28/2022

Tucked into the end of the 700-page bill signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker in February 2021, the new law that went into effect this year requires all candidates for sheriff

02/27/2022

Immigration detention has ended in Illinois after U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement transferred those awaiting deportation to facilities outside of the state.

02/26/2022

Department spokesman Gregory Runyan said in an email that the agency cannot comment on pending litigation.

02/19/2022

You have to take a cannabis drug test to get your cannabis conviction expunged, even though cannabis is legal?

An Illinois House Democrat hopes to help more people get previous cannabis charges expunged from their record. Rep. Carol Ammons (D-Urbana) says some still face a barrier because of the drug test required before expungement.

02/18/2022

The men expressed fears about getting sick and accused the jail of inadequate testing and quarantine measures among other complaints.

02/17/2022

"This is like being in hell. Not jail - hell."

02/16/2022

Jails officers missing pandemic pay. Of course, the detainees did all the dangerous cleaning work and none of them received pandemic pay.

$3,000 in pandemic relief and other bonus pay was promised to almost every Cook County employee.

02/10/2022

Chicago, IL - On the afternoon of January 22, organizers shut down the city block in front of Governor Pritzker’s Gold Coast mansion for 15 minutes, demanding immediate action to address the surging COVID cases in Illinois prisons and jails.

02/09/2022

Died at Stroger Hospital while in custody.

Richard J. Sisto, 72, was charged in October in the 1992 slaying of Helen K. Cardwell.

02/08/2022

This report is a must-read for anyone with loved ones in the Cook County Jail.

“When the Pretrial Fairness Act takes effect in 2023, it will improve community safety & reduce pretrial incarceration but only if Illinois' courts properly implement the law. Today, we are releasing a report detailing our implementation recommendation: https://t.co/yPuUPPjY9L”

02/07/2022

Starting Monday, visitors will be permitted to bring portable electronic devices into many of the state’s 102 courthouses. But not in Kankakee and Iroquois counties.

02/06/2022

In Illinois, 34 prisons are on lockdown because of COVID-19 outbreaks. These lockdowns come just two weeks after the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) stopped taking inmates from county jails due to outbreaks. This has impacted Sangamon County Jail. The number of inmates Sangamon County Jail...

02/05/2022

Kevin Dugar was released from Cook County Jail after a motion for bond was granted. He was convicted of a 2003 gang-related murder on Chicago’s North Side, and then, a decade later, his identical twin, Karl Smith, confessed to the murder.

02/04/2022

Advocates say the reform didn't go far enough.

02/02/2022

However bad it is, some poor soul always has it worse.

Liberia's main jail stopped taking new inmates recently because it couldn't give them anything to eat.

02/01/2022

The family of Larry Earvin is optimistic that a settlement agreement in the 2018 death of...