December 12, 2019
This article was originally published by CBS News, read it on their website here.
It’s a scene that happens every weekday at the Cook County Jail: a bus transports a group of inmates, all handcuffed, to court in the Chicago suburbs.
December 11, 2019
After proclaiming his innocence for nearly 20 years, Xavier Walker Wednesday was set to walk out of the Cook County Jail a free man after prosecutors dropped all charges against him in a 2000 murder case.
Walker, 39, was 19 years old when he was arrested for the murder of Mark Madjak during a robbery in West Garfield Park. He told the first lawyer he saw that police had pummeled him into making a confession, but that he also always protested that he was innocent.
November 11, 2019
This story was originally published in WGN9, read the full story here.
November 5, 2019
Cook County wants minors under 13 kept out, appeals says it can't.
"The General Assembly expressed its intention that the operation and administration of juvenile detention facilities would lie with the judiciary and not in the county board," Pierce wrote in the 17-page ruling.
Cook County Public Defender Amy Campanelli, whose office brought the appeal, said she is going to challenge the ruling with the Illinois Supreme Court.
October 30, 2019
A state appeals court has ruled against a Cook County ordinance banning the jailing of children under 13, writing in a new opinion that the county board does not have the authority to bar commitment to the juvenile jail when a judge has determined it is necessary.
September 26, 2019
This article was published in the Chicago Tribune, read it on their website here.
The Chicago Police Department’s n
