Sheriff Wants Low-Level Inmates Released From Jail Faster
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has begun pushing a new effort to get inmates charged with small-time non-violent crimes out from behind bars more quickly.
The sheriff said Cook County Jail isn't just coping with housing the mentally ill, "we also lock up low-level offenders where you cannot find a reason for them to be here."
"Are we protecting society? No. Are we rehabilitating them? No," he added.
One woman at the jail has been incarcerated since last summer, awaiting trial for stealing about $4 worth of plums and candy. She was pregnant at the time, and Dart said her incarceration has cost the county $20,000.
"Once a week now, we're going to grab 5 to 10 cases where we feel these people should not be in here, and we're going to sit down with them at the highest level – frankly, the very highest level – to move these cases immediately through the system," he said.
Dart also wants a new state law requiring cases of retail theft and trespassing to be adjudicated quickly, or suspects should be freed on recognizance bonds or home monitoring, pending the outcome of their case.