Local News

CHICAGO (Medill News Service) ― For the fourth time this month, several Cook County Jail inmates were seriously injured in a gang-related fight, leading some commissioners to question security at the jail.

Officials said about five of the seven inmates were stabbed during the Saturday evening fight in Division 11's dayroom, a maximum security facility. Two of the inmates were hospitalized in area hospitals, according to published reports.

"We know we need to increase the number of correctional officers [at the jail]," said Commissioner Bobbie Steele (D-Chicago). "We are under a federal court order to do so."

In December, a federal judge ordered the board to increase the number of guards at the jail or face the possible risk of being held in contempt of the court.

Steele said she will meet with the Sheriff's office to talk about institutional security.

"There is a Corrections Committee Advisory," Steele said. "Iola McGowan, the committee's chairman, is planning a walk-through of the county jail. I plan to accompany her [in order] to get a feel about the jail's temperance."

Steele added she does not know when the walk-through will occur. She said after talking with McGowan, the Corrections Committee Advisory plans to conduct the walk-through, but does not know the exact date.

Commissioner Mike Quigley (D-Chicago), however, said he does not feel the board is taking the security problems at Cook County Jail seriously.

"The board hasn't even tried," Quigley said. "[They] want the problems at the jail to go away...there will always be problems at the jail no matter who the sheriff is."

Quigley added he believes commissioners are afraid to criticize law enforcement regarding the jail's growing security problems. "When you criticize law enforcement, you are seen as unpatriotic. You risk being seen as opposite to the public," he said.

"We are in a unique situation.... where the likely [Democratic] candidate to win the Sheriff's race is Tom Dart. He is promising extensive change. But I... hope the new sheriff will be different, and I hope the board will take its responsibilities more seriously," Quigley said in a phone interview Tuesday.

Steele said she and Commissioners Carl Hansen (R-Mt. Prospect) and Larry Suffredin (D-Evanston) sponsored a budget amendment to receive more revenue from the Cook County Treasurer's Office and the Cook County Clerk's Office to pay for about 230 new correctional officers.

"It takes about three months to train the officers to prepare them for a job," Steele said, adding that the majority of the officers should be trained by early June. "Hopefully, the increase of correctional guards will reduce the activity we are experiencing now [at the jail.]"

During a phone interview earlier in April, Commissioner Joseph Mario Moreno (D-Chicago), Cook County Board president pro tem, said he also was discussing security issues at the jail with the Sheriff's office. He added that he is "floating around a new idea" and proposing a bracelet GPS service that will monitor each inmate and guard at the jail. He added that the implementation of additional security has already begun.

Quigley said he believes it is hard for commissioners to enforce new procedures because some county officials are afraid of offending the Sheriff's Department and law enforcement in general. "It is quite manipulative," Quigley said. "We are told not to challenge law enforcement. [Cook County Sheriff Michael] Sheahan is a bully," he said, referring to dynamics between some board members and Sheahan, who is due to retire.

Steele also raised a plausible explanation for the increase in security problems at the jail: "Sometimes, when the [boss] retires, the personnel retire. Some workers are taking more sick days and vacation days. There is a shortage of workers....and a high absentee rate."

"I also noticed there was no public outcry when there were reports of [alleged] beatings of inmates at the jail," Quigley said. "I think part of that is racial...because a vast majority of inmates are people of color."

A spokesman for the Cook County Sheriff's Department could not be reached for comment.

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