cook county jail Archives - Page 4 of 5 - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Cook County’s Inadequate Response to the COVID-19 Crisis at Cook County Jail Continues to Put Lives at Risk

Joint Statement from Chicago Appleseed and the Chicago Community Bond Fund For the last two weeks, over 100 advocacy, community, legal organizations, and unions have called on Cook County to release people from the jail to protect public health. In that time, Cook County courts have released...

Statement from Advocates to Chief Judge Evans: Need For Immediate Additional Action by Cook County Courts to Ensure Public Safety during the COVID-19 Pandemic

Dear Chief Judge Evans, The COVID-19 pandemic represents an unprecedented threat to public safety. The criminal courts, in particular, have a critically important responsibility in permitting people under their jurisdiction to follow CDC recommendations to stay home when feeling ill to properly c...

Advocates Issue Open Letter regarding COVID-19: Cook County must Decarcerate to Protect Public Health

Open Letter from 70+ Local Advocates to Cook County regarding COVID-19 and Cook County Jail: Protect Public Health through Decarceration Across the world, the impact of the coronavirus and COVID-19 pandemic has increased with each passing day. The highly contagious respiratory illness has been de...

Illinois State Capitol, Photo by Daniel Schwen

Chicago Appleseed Placed on Study Committee for Drug Field-Testing Program

On August 21, 2015, HB356, a bill establishing a pilot drug field-testing program was enacted, having passed both houses of the Illinois legislature and being signed by Governor Rauner. The bill, chiefly sponsored by Representative Zalewski in the House and Senator Harmon in the Senate, was develope...

A New Mandatory Minimum for Gun Crime Will Cause Further Pre-Trial Delay And Jail Overcrowding

With the support of Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, HB2265 / SB 1342 was recently introduced to the Illinois General Assembly with the goal of imposing a mandatory three-year minimum prison sentence for people convicted of illegal use of a weapon. Our friends at the John Howard Association—in recent articles o...

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