Chicagoist: Go Directly to Jail, Do Not Pass Go, Pay $200

chad

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 19:11:48 -0600

there are not 10,000 new detainees per day at the cook county jail as you state in your article. there are 300-350 per day. there are 10,000 HOUSED at the jail each day (300 in, 300 out).

softdog

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 13:18:57 -0600

Wow, I'm think this vioilates the bill of rights in terms of being cruel and unusual punishment. I'm disturbed by the thought it's okay to do anything to a person once they are convicted of a crime. It's also the opposite of any rational form of law enforcement. It destroys rehabilitiation as it forces the incarcerated into debt, which may drive them right back to crime to pay it off. And it also creates a monetary incentive for locking up prisoners for as long as possible. You just know that a few years after enacting this policy there will be a major scandals about prisoners being abused with false violations and extended imprisonment just to increase jail revenue. This is the last thing the heavily corrupt cook county system needs. Think District 2 with a profit motive. This isn't speculation - it's already happening with the increasing privitization of the prison system. We already have an exceedingly punitive system with questionable mandatory sentences for certain offenses. We don't need to add state sanctioned debt. Once someone's done their time, they should be done, not have a lein placed on their lives.

rxrchicago

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 12:13:17 -0600

In other states they charge you 60 dollars a day for everday you are in jail.

Kevin

Mon, 12 Feb 2007 11:16:23 -0600

The reason Dart wants the money to stay within law enforcement is that he is wary of the Stroger Clan having a blank check to hire more unqualified friends and family while continuing to ignore the problems within the bureau of health. If these revenue plans are successful the proceeds would go to the general fund; this is a just a way of Dart taking a shot at Stroger.

james

Sun, 11 Feb 2007 23:23:58 -0600

sounds like a great idea, until you realize that, yeah, if criminals had plenty of money, they likely wouldn't be criminals in the first place [with the exception of conrad black]. i do, however, think dart's better idea is to dismantle the forest preserve police and put the forest preserves under the jurisdiction of the sheriff's police, which they kind of are anyway now, this would just make it official and save the county a few million and put a bunch of political hacks out of wor... oh wait, that won't happen.