Sheriff Tom Dart Archives - Chicago Appleseed Center for Fair Courts

Cook County Jail’s First COVID-19 Death Could (and Should) Have Been Prevented

Jeffrey Pendleton is the first person known to have died after contracting COVID-19 in the Cook County Jail. His infection and eventual death were avoidable and preventable. Each and every government actor who objected to his release—or contributed to his incarceration in the first place—played a ro...

The Capacity Problem: What Cook County Can Do To Move Toward NYC’s Plan To Keep The Mentally Ill Out of Jail

The mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, recently unveiled a plan to reduce the number of mentally ill people kept in jail. The plan hopes to address a common and malignant feature of criminal justice systems throughout the country: that jails have been become--in many places--the only public hou...

[VIDEO] Chicago Appleseed on “In The Loop” Channel 20 (PBS WYCC), discussing Bond Court

I was a panelist on the November 20th episode of "In The Loop" on Channel 20 (PBS Chicago, WYCC) at 7:00pm CST. My co-panelists were former Public Defender of Cook County, Professor Randolph Stone and Commissioner John Fritchey. The topic was reforming Cook County's Bond Court. As we've discusse...

Supreme Court Commission Offers Chance For Real and Substantial Reform

Co-written with Malcolm Rich, Executive Director, Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice Two major events will affect the future of criminal justice in Cook County: One is the Illinois Supreme Court’s second meeting bringing together the heads of critical departments to discuss improvements in informat...

Coordination is the Key to the Cook County Electronic Monitoring Problem

The April 26th “Change of Subject” column column by Chicago Tribune op-ed columnist Eric Zorn discusses the drop in the number of defendants released on electronic home monitoring which is contributing to the critical problem of jail overcrowding in Cook County. The current population of Cook Count...