Cook County Jail Consolidates Inmate Buildings

Image from Cook County Jail video | Cook County Sheriff

Hundreds of inmates will be on the move over the next few weeks as building closures take place throughout the Cook County Jail compound. The building closures are part of a strategic plan to reduce operational costs and more efficiently house and care for inmates within county custody.

The move comes with declining national crime trends as well as an increase in court-ordered electronic monitoring. Many buildings around the jail compound are operating at slightly more than half their maximum bed capacity, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart said in a news release.

Starting this week the primary female divisions -- Division 3 and Division 17 -- will shut down. The women will be transferred to Division 4, which has being undergoing renovations after being temporarily closed two years ago.

The Division 3 population includes all security classifications -- minimum, medium and maximum. The Division 17 population has mainly housed minimum security female inmates, with a strong emphasis on vocational programming, drug treatment and mental health counseling.

Former Division 17 female inmates will have access to the same programs in Division 4. While Division 17 typically operates at full capacity (approximately 140 women), Division 3 has been running at 56-percent capacity, or 195 inmates with an available bed capacity of 346.

By consolidating the women’s facilities from the two aging buildings into the refurbished Division 4, the county expects to save significant in jail operational costs. Sheriff’s deputies formerly assigned to Divisions 3 and 17, will be transferred to the consolidated women’s Division 4.

Dart also announced plans to close the aging maximum security Division 1 jail building. Male inmates will transfer to other divisions throughout the jail. Division 1 correctional staff will be reassigned to populated divisions across the compound, allowing for more efficient staffing and reducing overtime costs in the process.

Built in 1929 and the oldest structure on the compound that once housed an electric chair in its basement, Division 1 has been functioning at 44-percent capacity (550 inmates with available capacity of 1,248). The archaic building frequently required expensive, customized repairs. Shutting it down means that county taxpayers will no longer have to foot the bill for maintaining it.

Closing the divisions means there are now four Cook County Jail buildings no longer housing inmates, including Division 5 which shut down approximately two years ago.

Dart said the move toward electronic monitoring, an alternative to pre-trial incarceration for defendants deemed safe to remain within the community as their cases progress have led to a decrease in jail capacity. The closures are expected to reduce operational costs, including overtime, due to more efficient staffing.

Currently, there are more than 2,300 men and women assigned to electronic monitoring, up from an average of about 500 in 2009.

“We’ve made great progress in addressing unjust incarceration and communicating to the public that pre-trial detainment should be used as a last resort for people who pose clear dangers to society, not as a default mechanism for the poor and mentally ill,” the sheriff added.