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PROPOSED RESOLUTION
CALLING FOR A HEARING OF THE CRIMINAL JUSTICE COMMITTEE TO EXAMINE LENGTH OF STAY OF DETAINEES FOR THE COOK COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS AND ITS EFFECT ON JAIL POPULATION
WHEREAS, the Cook County Department of Corrections (CCDOC) has seen a drastic decrease in the number of detainees over the last 7 years to almost half of the prior over 10,000 average daily population; however as of November 2020 there are still over 8,600 detainees in custody including over 5,300 detainees housed inside the jail and over 3,200 in Community Corrections, which includes those on Electronic Monitoring (EM); and
WHEREAS, over 75% of detainees housed inside the jail are Black and over 15% are Latino, and over 72% of detainees in Community Corrections are Black and over 18% are Latino; and
WHEREAS, contributing greatly to these reductions have been pre-trial criminal justice reforms led by community leaders and the leadership of this administration and from the different stakeholders of the criminal justice system whether it be the Chief Judge, the Sheriff, the State's Attorney, the Public Defender, the Clerk of the Court etc.; however, laudable as these accomplishments are, there is more work that can and must be done to reduce the jail population especially for those detainees who have been incarcerated for extended periods of time; and
WHEREAS, the majority of detainees are presumed innocent and awaiting trial or are in custody while their case works its way through the court system; and
WHEREAS, currently 20% of detainees have a length of stay from 181 days to 1 year and 20% from 1 to 2 years, or 40% of the detainees in the CCCDOC have been in custody for up to 2 years; additionally there are 232 detainees in custody for 3 to 4 years, and another 285 detainees in custody for 5 years or more all the way up to 10 years; and
WHEREAS, the Sixth Amendment right to a speedy trial enshrined in the Constitution and that the Supreme Court held as one o...
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