Federal Judge Will Hear Arguments About Cook County Inmate Release
CHICAGO (CBS)-- The fight to release medically vulnerable inmates at the Cook County Jail goes to federal court Tuesday.
Governor JB Pritzker signed an executive order on Monday, allowing medically vulnerable inmates to be released from Illinois prisons.
COVID-19 has become an issue at the Cook County jail. An inmate who contracted the virus died on Sunday, and one in every 20 detainees has tested positive for COVID-19.
Later Tuesday, a federal judge will hear arguments from lawyers, asking for the release of medically vulnerable inmates from the county jail.
Lawyers behind Tuesday's suit say social distancing at the jail is impossible.
"The infection rate is very high. It bespeaks a situation that the infection is being transmitted very rapidly throughout the jail and at a rate that is a multiple of the outside world where actual social distancing is possible," Stephen Weil, attorney who filed the federal lawsuit.
Lawyers will argue their case before a federal judge via phone.