CHICAGO — Sheriff Tom Dart is fighting against the "unjust incarceration" of thousands of inmates over Christmas.
About 8,300 people will be in Cook County Jail over the Christmas holiday, according to a written statement from the Sheriff's Department. About 7,700 of those people — or 93 percent — are awaiting trial and have not been convicted, and 550 of those in jail are charged only with misdemeanors. Those numbers show "an urgent need" for reform, according to the sheriff's office.
This year, the county had a "breakthrough" in criminal justice reform with the passing of the Rocket Docket, which ensures non-violent defendants who are charged with low-level crimes won't spend long periods of time in jail while awaiting trial, according to the sheriff's office.
But, "too many people continue to be incarcerated pre-trial for far too long," according to the office.
Dart said the jail had about 70,000 admissions in 2015. About 2,200 people spent the entire year incarcerated before going to trial. About 8,700 people who spent time in the jail this year had their charges dropped completely, according to the sheriff's office.
“As the national discourse evolves towards a smarter approach to criminal justice, I’m gratified that the public is becoming increasingly cognizant of the unjust incarceration of the mentally ill and poor,” Dart said. “Cook County can and should serve as an example for the rest of the country in 2016, and that starts with moving towards a humane and fiscally prudent approach to this critical issue.”
Cook County Jail's expenses in 2015 included:
• 10 million meals produced
• 150 semi-truckloads of milk
• 100 semi-truckloads of bread
• 500 tons of meat
• 250 tons of vegetables
• 15 semi-truckloads of chips
• 559,000 bars of soap
• 83,000 pairs of shoes
• 2.1 million pounds of laundry
• 591,000 rolls of toilet paper
• 142,000 toothbrushes
• 983,000 packs of toothpaste
• 587,500 garbage bags
• 17,500 people transported from Cook County Jail to state prisons
• 5,840 buses dispatched to transport pre-trial inmates to suburban courthouses for case hearings, logging 120,500 miles
• 1,300 emergency ambulance runs to Stroger Hospital for inmates with medical conditions
• 6.5 million doses of medication dispensed
• 18,000 dental visits
• 37,000 primary care visits
• 14,800 psychiatric visits
Source: Cook County Sheriff's Office
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