Cook County Jail Problems Fester—County Board, Courts, Other Agencies at Fault, Jail Monitor Says

(Chicago, IL) –Serious systemic problems that drive overcrowding and violence continue to plague the Cook County Jail, and those problems are principally the result of collective policies failures by the Cook County Board, the Courts, and other county government agencies, according to a new monitoring report by the jail’s U.S. Court appointed monitor, the John Howard Association.

“The Sheriff has no control over maintenance personnel, health services, police arrest decisions, bond

Cook County Jail.

hearings, criminal case processing, or adequate general funding,” said Malcolm Young, Executive Director of the John Howard Association.

“The County Health Service, the County Facilities Management, the County Board, and Cook County court proceedings contribute to understaffing and overcrowding and, ultimately, to violence. Period.”

The John Howard Association submitted on August 14 the new monitoring report to the United States District Court and the parties in a long-standing civil rights case against Cook County and the Cook County Department of Corrections.

The new report follows on the heals of a report issued by the United States Attorney detailing numerous violent acts, incidents of abuse and allegations of medical neglect leading to death or injury.

“The U.S. Attorney correctly identified unacceptable violence, abuse, and medical neglect allegations, but his highly publicized assessment that the Cook County Jail has a “culture in which the excessive and inappropriate use of force is too often tolerated” is wrong.

“The reports of violence are certainly serious and intolerable, but we have seen, and our report documents, evidence that the new Sheriff and his administration have sought to minimize their reoccurrence and have demonstrated their opposition to abusive behavior,” Young said.

Malcolm Young, Executive Director, John Howard Association

The responsibility for conditions leading to the unconstitutional violations detailed by the United States Attorney is shared among several public officials and governing bodies, according to Young.

Young noted that the President and members of the Cook County Board of Commissioners are co-defendants in the Duran case, since they control budgets of all county agencies. Cook County Courts, which send defendants to jail, are not part of the suit.

“Public officials have said that throwing more money at the problem is not the answer, but this ignores that funding the jail budget to meet constitution obligations is not ‘throwing money at a problem’ but responsible public administration of one of the largest jails in the United States,” Young said.

However, the monitor’s report does not let the Sheriff off the hook. Young noted that John Howard Association staff have uncovered more recent problems resulting from the Sheriff’s transfers of inmates with medical and psychiatric conditions—to eliminate overcrowding—to areas where they cannot be adequately supervised by jail security personnel.

“The consequences of these decisions are serious, which is why we called them to the attention of the Court,” Young stated. “But we see these as mistakes, not the product of a culture that condones violence.”

The new report also describes the chronic problem of inmates who remain incarcerated in the jail for several years and the added crowding of thousands of low-level, short-time defendants who absorb precious dollars and space the county is hard-pressed to afford.

“Despite some improvements, there are still far too many inmates sitting in this jail for periods of more than two years,” said Young. “Many of these inmates have been involved in violent incidents at the jail.”

A copy of the full report is available at: http://www.john-howard.org/