Cook County Jail

Good Behavior

Interview with Rachel, Jason, Kat, JM Advice, Brian, DavidP, keke, Teabag, Crystal, isaac and Lucky

JM: Did you get off early based on good behavior?
Rachel: yes i did
Jason: No NA
Kat: NA
JM Advice: The Cook County Jail is crowded - very crowded. In an effort to reduce the inmate population Cook County has one of the most aggressive "Time off for good behavior" policies in the US.
Brian: I wasn't there long enough to know - I think you could get off like half your time, though.
DavidP: Yes.
keke: no its a county not a pen and some inmates suck up to the gaurds snitches
Teabag: Nope
Crystal: Unless you do something terrible like are caught with drugs, raping someone, or batter someone badly, they generally will not give you a disciplinary ticket and bring you before the disciplinary board and take away good time credits. State law requires mandatory day for day good time credit (you do 50 % of the time) unless you are charged with a disciplinary violation, and are given a hearing with due process to remove the good time. This is rare because the jail is crowded. There are ways the Sheriff can decide to send you home on electronic monitoring or get you out earlier due to crowding.
isaac: 1 day for working
Lucky: no

JM: What is the most time off you can receive for good behavior?
Rachel: about 5 months
Jason: NA
Kat: Don't know
JM Advice: Inmates who do everything they are supposed to can reduce their sentence 50%.
Brian: Half your time (I think).
DavidP: 50% off.
keke: none
Teabag: ??? Never got any
Crystal: Day for day good time credit in jail. In prison there is day for day good time credit only for non-violent crimes or violent crimes without much injury to victim. Then you can in addition be given two sets of 90 day special good time credits, which is only for prison (felonies) and not for jail (misdemeanor time). So if you are sentence to 364 days jail you do 182 days. If 30 days you do 15. If sent to penitentiary and you get 2 years, you do 6 months. If you are sentenced to 6 years you do 3 years minus six months or 2 1/2 years.
isaac: 1 day

JM: What types of actions do you need to avoid in order to get time off?
Rachel: not fight. be good to the officers. play by the rules
Jason: NA
Kat: Don't Know
JM Advice: So for every one month you serve you can receive credit for an additional month - this time off applies whether you are sentenced to ten days (in which case you would serve five) and it is not hard to earn. The only inmates who actually lose their good behavior time are typically either fighting with other inmates, using illegal drugs while incarcerated or committing some other serious crime behind bars. Time off for good behavior is given in addition to "credit for time served."
Brian: Fighting and talking back to guards.
DavidP: Drugs is a big one. There's a lot of pot smoking in there. Where they get it, I don't now. What I noticed was pot smoking and fighting. You could also [lose] it for repeated disobedience to the guards. In other words, they instruct you with lights out and quiet time, and you're not quiet, they'll give you a warning or two, but repeated offenses of things like that will cause it. Another one is hassling guards. I don't know if there's any number of times set in stone that you can do it - it's probably based on what you did, but those are the types of things - either drugs, or fighting, or disrespect to the guards.
keke: nothing you dont get time off
Teabag: Drugs, Fighting, Gang Activity, etc etc
Crystal: No contraband, rape, gang activities, fights.
isaac: just do what the co says
Lucky: Don't break any rules.