Cook County Jail

Sentencing

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

JM: How long was your sentencing for?
Rachel: 6 years
Jason: None..I was held in cook county for about 3 days, in the worst conditions I have ever seen.. My name was Mother F*er, ( sorry for the profanity) but this is what I was called by EVERY GUARD. Male or Female. I was complyed with every reguest as a gentle with respect to everyone.
Kat: Thirty Days there but charges were dropped and I was released after three days because I paid off bad checks.
JM Advice: Following conviction the judge may either make a decision on the spot or require a PSI (pre-sentence investigation). A PSI is a investigative process aimed at determining the optimal incarceration time frame for you and your crime. They will consider various things such as your involvement in the crime, your overall threat to the community and the impact of your crime(s) on victims. If you are doing time in the Cook County Jail you usually won't receive a sentence for more than a year meaning that people seldom serve more than six months consecutively. If you are sentenced on multiple charges pay attention carefully to whether your sentences will run "consecutively" or "concurrently." If they run consecutively you can add the sentences together to find out your total sentence - if they are concurrent you will only actually serve one sentence. So, for instance, if you receive a sentence of a year each on four different charges and they run consecutively you will serve four years (two years with time off). If you receive the same charges but they run concurrently you will serve a total of one year (in theory you are serving all of the sentences at the same time).
Brian: Well, he pretty much told me to return at a later date to clear everything I needed to clear in order to get my license current again. The whole point of me going to jail was because my license was suspended, because there were some fees that I didn't pay off that I needed to clear and pay in order to get my license current again. For my situation, it was pretty simple. The judge said, "Just take care of those fees and come back." He scheduled me to come back like two weeks later.
DavidP: Six months was the sentence, and I served half.
keke: 4 months
Teabag: I have been in CCDOC 12+ times (cant remember exact amt. of times) all times I was fighting cases in court. Longest stay in CCDOC was 18 months back in 2001
Crystal: Two years.
Edward: 6 Months for contempt of court.no day for day just 6 months
isaac: 60 days
Lucky: 60 days county time.

JM: Did you spend time in a holding cell after your sentencing? If so, what was that like?
Rachel: i felt sick.
Jason: Yes Hour`s and Hour`s, with people trying to steal my under garments, shoe , socks, eyeglasses. I went hours without any food are water, I was urinated on threatened to be raped, beat up, and many other discusting situations. My personal items when I was booked in were STOLEN, when I was handing over my cash and wallet I had Chinese currency on me from my business trip. The guard told me he wanted it to keep, and that I was not going to get it back anyway. I also had 300.00 in US currency that was never returned to me..
Kat: Yes. Horrible. NO running water -- thirty women in room -- no food or water. Gross and disgusting floor and walls.
JM Advice: Be prepared to spend a lot of time in holding cells if you are going through sentencing at the Cook County Jail. You will probably be put in handcuffs and possibly shackles - the court uses different holding cells for different classes of offenders. Feel free to talk to the other people in the holding cells, but don't discuss your case - anything you talk about may be used against you in the courtroom later.
Brian: Yeah, for another two or three hours.
DavidP: Oh yeah. 24 hours. I actually went into the jail proper, and was in a holding area. I may have gone into two different holding cells, and the whole intake process took roughly 24 hours. You're in a holding cell for a while, and then you go into another holding cell, and then they take you into intake, meaning they take your information, your fingerprints, and a nurse checks you for any illnesses or diseases or anything else, and you go through that. There's about six or eight different steps. After you go through that, you get put back into a holding cell. Once I got out of that holding cell, I got put into the jail proper. From the time I left the courtroom until I got into the jail cell where I was permanently housed was roughly 24 hours.
keke: yes in the holding cell for 18 hours you get 6 hours out a day that is some horriable sh* and its inhuman
Teabag: I have spent time 7 different times in my cell after sentencing. For each of my 7 felony convictions.
Crystal: In CCDOC you constantly are placed in holding cells, men like sardines packed in and women less crowded. They may be only one water fountain and it may not work. Try to drink as much water as possible before being taken to the holding tanks between the jail and courtroom. You may be there all day with little to drink except 8 oz of KookAid if the fountain doesn't work. If you are in an outlying courtroom you will be transported there between 7-9 a.m. and returned between 4 and 6 p.m. If you are at 26th and California criminal courtrooms you may spend less time in holding cells. The cells are dirty, not having been properly cleaned in decades with mold and inches of dust hanging down off the ventilation gratings. The toilets may not work and the it stinks and is in the basement in general. 555 Harrison is newer and has nicer holding cells with plexiglass and electronic doors as do most of the outlying courthouses. 26th and California main criminal felony court has disgusting and foul holding cells behind courtroom and between courthouse and jail. You go through two sets of holding cells to get from jail to behind courtroom holding cells. A few months ago due to the fact that I won a mandmus against the State and both a State agency and the feds are investigating abuse, torture, rape, medical neglect, etc. at the jail, the holding cells were suddenly cleaned and toilets and fountains fixed. They now smell like antiseptic and are much more less of a health risk and place where infections are spread. They have a major problem with the spread of staph infections so wash your hands with at least water but better with soap whenever possible.
Edward: It was Filthy,cramped.The correction officers really like to screw with you.I asked a question about whats going on cause i never been to Jail before and one Officer got into my face and was screaming at me also it was 9 hours before I started the inprocessing.
isaac: no
Lucky: Yeah, waiting to go back to my division.
Laydie: my time spent was small overnight. the guards kept good watch over the inmates.