County Leaders Want To Keep More Nonviolent Defendants Out Of Jail While They Await Trial
By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 25, 2016 6:16PM
In the wake of a class-action lawsuit that alleges discrimination against the poor in the county’s bond system, Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle and four commissioners are calling for reductions in pretrial incarceration of nonviolent offenders.
Preckwinkle and the reform’s supporting commissioners—Richard Boykin (Oak Park), Jesus "Chuy" Garcia (Chicago), Peter Silvestri (Elmwood Park) and John Fritchey (Chicago)—announced on Monday a hearing, set for Nov. 17 to consider the issue.
"I support the commissioners' call to bring clarity and visibility to this issue, and I urge all of our stakeholders to continue working together and continue to reduce unnecessary pretrial detention,” Preckwinkle said in a statement.
According to the Tribune, the commissioners directly cited a recent lawsuit in which two jailed plaintiffs are suing five Circuit Court judges along with Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart for unreasonably high bail parameters.
“Many, many people in the Cook County jail are there because they can’t pay bail, and they are kept behind bars, even though they haven’t been convicted of anything,” lawyer Alexa Van Brunt told The Daily Northwestern last week.
Sally Daly, a spokesperson for the State’s Attorney’s Office, told the Tribune that the department has been utilizing “alternative programming” for nonviolent detainees while working with Dart’s office to “expedite” such cases.
But proponents of reform argue the county should go further. "This is a question of fairness," Silvestri said in a statement. "We are still innocent until proven guilty in this country. If you are guilty of a crime you should be incarcerated. If you are awaiting trial and there is no finding of guilt, and the nature of the crime does not present a threat to the public, we should not be expending public money on the jail."