McHenry County Blog

Cook County Jail is finally routinely testing new prisoners for HIV.

More than 20 years ago, State Rep. Penny Pullen was pushing for inmates to be tested for HIV upon incarceration.

She was even willing to settle for testing upon release.

Why?

In the hope that those in prison might be less likely to infect others if they knew they were infected.

That was in the years when AIDS activists seemed to think the virus should have more civil rights than humans.

Well, now the Chicago Tribune is reporting that the Cook County Jail is routinely testing those on the way in.

Why?

Sheriff’s Department officials are “hoping to put a dent in the number of people who have the virus but don’t know it.”

That’s what the Chicago Tribune reports.

State prisons are next, the article says.

And, echoing the argument I made in the 1990′s, “Experts say correctional facilities have been a key battleground in the fight against HIV.”

Better late than never, I guess.

But think how many HIV infections could have been prevented if people like Illinois Department of Corrections Director Howard Peters had had the courage to follow the facts in the mid-1990′s, rather than political correctness.

And some wonder why I think government is incompetent.

Take a look at this short Thursday article from the Chicago Sun-Times:

Probation for bringing drugs into prison.

When I was on the Illinois House Prison Reform Committee, I asked every warden why he couldn’t keep drugs out of his prison.

“My constituents don’t understand why you can’t keep drugs out of a prison where you control all the access,” I would point out.

I never got a good answer.

And now, a Cook County Judge has given probation to a Cook County Jail guard for trying to smuggle marijuana into the complex.

With no jail time, you can probably figure out why the reward might outweigh the penalty for prison guards.

Waving good-bye at the Crystal Lake train station.

At the end of June, 2007, I had the opportunity to host young political leaders from China.

It was an exchange trip sponsored by the American Council of Young Political Leaders.

Illinois State Capitol

Back in the fall of 1976, I had an opportunity to go on a junket to Europe (Brussels, Germany, the Netherlands, a ferry boat trip to Sweden).

We

• attended a NATO conference,
• toured its headquarters where I met a former Democratic opponent of Congressman Robert C. McClory,
• got to talk to the equivalent of Barry Goldwater’s campaign manager the week before the German election,
• met with parliamentarians in a railroad liberal waterfront home reception (where I learned about home health care to allow seniors to stay in the homes longer),
• visited a Viking boat museum,
• stayed in hotel overlooking Trivoli,
• pretty much had a great time on a busman’s holiday.

So, when I got an email telling of how Chinese young politicians were coming to Illinois to visit Springfield and Chicago, I figured a long ride on the train through suburbia might expand their knowledge of what the United States is all about.

Previously, they had visited either Arizona or Washington, D.C., and were on the way to the other.

Seeing the Southwest, Washington, D.C., Downtown Chicago and Springfield just didn’t seem to be a representative tour of the United States.

Suburbia had been left out.

I arranged for things for them to do.

Meeting the delegation at the Metra Station, I told them what was on the schedule for the day.

Upon arriving at Lakeside Center, the group walked around looking the food booths.

First we would eat at Lakeside Center, then take a boat ride on Crystal Lake, visit the county jail and tour models in a new subdivision.

Before we got on the bus that Algonquin Township Road Commissioner had kindly provided, I explained what I had been told about their incarcerated countrymen by the head of the Corrections Division of the McHenry County Sheriff’s Department.

He had explained Chinese men and women arrived at O’Hare’s International Terminal, but couldn’t get out because they didn’t have passports.

They were then taken to the McHenry County Jail.

He said that the men had to work their fee off in Chinese restaurants around the country, living in the basements.

The women ended up as prostitutes. According to him, they submitted because the gangs that arranged for them to fly into O’Hare threatened to do bad things to their relatives, if they didn’t work off their debt.

Come to find out, they had spent all day before at the Cook County Jail.  Sheriff Tom Dart had given them the grand tour himself.  I asked if they had seen the good and the bad parts and was assured that they had seen everything.

Too much, in fact.  I got the impression if they never saw another American jail that would be alright.

I assured them that McHenry County’s would provide a favorable comparison to Cook County’s.

First, we would got to Lakeside Center to eat.

I can never remember the difference between the Lakeside Festival and the Gala, but I found a photo of this Gala ticket so I guess that was what it was.

Ferris Wheel at Lakeside Center

I figured they could see how Americans entertain themselves in a summer festival and have a wide choice of food.

I had hoped Perry Moy would be at his Plum Garden stand, but he wasn’t.

Apparently the delegation wasn’t hungry.

Since one of the visitors had the word “township” in her title, I had invited the township supervisors who were women. Richmond Township Supervisor Tammy Valentine-Garza and McHenry Township Supervisor Donna Schaefer came. Schaefer brought her daughter, who was born in China.

Some spoke good English, some none. One, who was working at the new stock exchange, has a Ph.D. from the University of Chicago.

More tomorrow.

It’s shift change so the inmates are in their cells at the McHenry County Jail.

Update of June 15, 2012.

There is now a way to find people in the McHenry County Jail.  Look here for the link.

= = = = =

A friend of McHenry County Blog was trying to find out if someone was incarcerated in the McHenry County Jail.

There was nothing on the internet, as there is for the Illinois Department of Corrections.

If someone is in state prison, you look for the “inmate locator” portion of the web site, type in a last name and everyone behind bars with that name pops up.

It must be a pretty popular question, because it’s the top Google item for IDOC and there’s even a separate listing.

But, there’s nothing like that for McHenry County.

I looked at other big counties and here’s what I found.

Lake County has a “prisoner locator” place.

Kane County has one.

DuPage County makes it easy to local those in jail.

Same with Cook County.

Winnebago County even has one and it’s smaller than McHenry County.

Populations of largest Illinois counties.

But not McHenry County, even though we are the sixth largest county in Illinois.  No county outside of the Chicago metropolitan area is larger.

I decided to look south of I-80.

The first county I checked was Sangamon, where Springfield sits. It has no easy way to find out who is in jail. The last census showed it smaller than McHenry.

Next I tried Madison County, near St. Louis. Nothing there, but Madison has about 50,000 fewer people now than McHenry. It used to be larger, but McHenry County has really grown.

Onto its neighbor, St. Clair County. Couldn’t find anything there either.  St. Clair has about as many people as Madison.

Couldn’t find any way to find an inmate in the Peoria County Jail, but that county is now much smaller than McHenry.

So, it looks as if bigger counties have prison locator functions that can be accessed through the internet, but smaller ones don’t.

I thought McHenry County was considered one of the bigger counties now, so I filed this Freedom of Information request:

“Most of the large counties in Illinois have an Inmate Search function.  Under the Freedom of Information Act, I request any documents that exist concerning McHenry County’s developing such a service to the public.”

Here is the reply I received from the Sheriff’s Department:

“The McHenry County Sheriff’s Corrections Division does not have any documents concerning the development of this service.”

Chicago’s Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart made national news yesterday by declaring he would not do the part of his job that involves evicting people from their homes.

I saw the story below the Bill O’Reilly Show on Fox News.

The day of his announcement, however, there was another story of significance about the Cook County Jail that Dart runs.

His office was sued for allowing an inmate to commit suicide.

When word was broadcast of WBBM Radio that George Ryan was expected to be indicted the next day, Ryan came up with his capital punishment announcement. (I admit to not being able to find links to verify this, but that’s the sequence I remember.)

Could Dart’s announcement be to deflect attention to the suit regarding the Cook County inmate suicide?

As the Tribune story by Stacy St. Clair pointed out,

“The family of an inmate highlighted in a scathing critique of the Cook County Jail has filed a lawsuit alleging the man’s suicide could have been prevented with proper medical care and cell supervision.”

With less than a week left to serve, 25-year old Nicholas Grossi choked himself with a sheet.

After reading the report, I urged Sheriff Dart to just throw up his hands, admit that to cure the jail’s problems required more money that he could pry out of the Cook County Board and ask the Federal judge to take control of making the jail safe and sanitary.

Here is the comprehensive series on what the Federal monitor found wrong with the Cook County Jail:

Part 1 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Sheriff Tom Dart’s Goals

Part 2 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – 2007 Complaints of Physical Abuse to Inmates

Part 3 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Causes of and Cures for Physical Abuse

Part 4 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Medical Care

Part 5 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Access to Medical and Dental Care

Chicago’s Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart made national news yesterday by declaring he would not do the part of his job that involves evicting people from their homes.

I saw the story below the Bill O’Reilly Show on Fox News.

The day of his announcement, however, there was another story of significance about the Cook County Jail that Dart runs.

His office was sued for allowing an inmate to commit suicide.

When word was broadcast of WBBM Radio that George Ryan was expected to be indicted the next day, Ryan came up with his capital punishment announcement. (I admit to not being able to find links to verify this, but that’s the sequence I remember.)

Could Dart’s announcement be to deflect attention to the suit regarding the Cook County inmate suicide?

As the Tribune story by Stacy St. Clair pointed out,

“The family of an inmate highlighted in a scathing critique of the Cook County Jail has filed a lawsuit alleging the man’s suicide could have been prevented with proper medical care and cell supervision.”

With less than a week left to serve, 25-year old Nicholas Grossi choked himself with a sheet.

After reading the report, I urged Sheriff Dart to just throw up his hands, admit that to cure the jail’s problems required more money that he could pry out of the Cook County Board and ask the Federal judge to take control of making the jail safe and sanitary.

Here is the comprehensive series on what the Federal monitor found wrong with the Cook County Jail:

Part 1 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Sheriff Tom Dart’s Goals

Part 2 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – 2007 Complaints of Physical Abuse to Inmates

Part 3 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Causes of and Cures for Physical Abuse

Part 4 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Medical Care

Part 5 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Access to Medical and Dental Care

I wrote earlier what I thought Cook County Sheriff should do about the scathing Federal investigator’s findings about the Cook County Jail.

To put it briefly,

Tom Dart should throw up his hands, blame the Cook County Board for not providing enough money to bring the Cook County Jail up to standards and ask the Federal Court to take over the jail and make the needed improvements.

Then, he should take credit.

When I wrote my original story, little did I know that Federal Receiver Clark Kelso in California was going to recommend $8 billion over five years be seized from the California treasury to finance prison reforms there, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The argument for seizing the money is buttressed, the Receiver writes, by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “recent public assertions of extraordinary power to control staste spending regarding state employee salaries and their acknowledgment that the state retains very substantial financial resources to fund necessary programs.” (You may have read that Schwarzenegger is paying state workers the minimum wage because a budget has not been passed.)

The California Receiver goes on to cite concerns similar to the ones brought up by Cook County Jail’s Federal investigator:

• Medical care (“It is undisputed, however, that the state was incapable of remedying years of neglect by in the prison medical care system…The state chose for decades to permit the medical system to rot and decay. ”)
• Medical facilities
• Overcrowding

You get the picture.

Where would the money go?

$2 billion to renovate 33 prison clinics.

$6 billion for seven new prisons “for the long-term medical, mental health and dental care of 10,000 inmates.”

The Receiver is also asking $2 million a day in punitive fines, “ increasing by $1 million a day every 10 day, that would set aside for his use,” the article says.

Schwarzenegger included a then-$7 billion request in his budget this year, but Republicans would not support it with an expansion of the state prison system for regular prisoners.

I wrote earlier what I thought Cook County Sheriff should do about the scathing Federal investigator’s findings about the Cook County Jail.

To put it briefly,

Tom Dart should throw up his hands, blame the Cook County Board for not providing enough money to bring the Cook County Jail up to standards and ask the Federal Court to take over the jail and make the needed improvements.

Then, he should take credit.

When I wrote my original story, little did I know that Federal Receiver Clark Kelso in California was going to recommend $8 billion over five years be seized from the California treasury to finance prison reforms there, according to the Los Angeles Times.

The argument for seizing the money is buttressed, the Receiver writes, by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger’s “recent public assertions of extraordinary power to control staste spending regarding state employee salaries and their acknowledgment that the state retains very substantial financial resources to fund necessary programs.” (You may have read that Schwarzenegger is paying state workers the minimum wage because a budget has not been passed.)

The California Receiver goes on to cite concerns similar to the ones brought up by Cook County Jail’s Federal investigator:

• Medical care (“It is undisputed, however, that the state was incapable of remedying years of neglect by in the prison medical care system…The state chose for decades to permit the medical system to rot and decay. ”)
• Medical facilities
• Overcrowding

You get the picture.

Where would the money go?

$2 billion to renovate 33 prison clinics.

$6 billion for seven new prisons “for the long-term medical, mental health and dental care of 10,000 inmates.”

The Receiver is also asking $2 million a day in punitive fines, “ increasing by $1 million a day every 10 day, that would set aside for his use,” the article says.

Schwarzenegger included a then-$7 billion request in his budget this year, but Republicans would not support it with an expansion of the state prison system for regular prisoners.

Last week was so busy I didn’t get to read the three daily newspapers that land on my driveway every morning.

When I picked up the Wednesday Sun-Times, I saw Mark Brown’s column entitled,

Apparently Brown sat in on a weekly meeting that new Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has with the heads of various parts of the jail.

Apparently it wasn’t a pretty picture, but not as bad as it could have been.

I am sure one of the eternal problems of a Cook County Sheriff is lack of adequate funds to do what the sheriff things should be done.

Certainly the devastating Federal report, about which I wrote below, convincingly show major improvements are needed. Those changes will require lots of money.

The best chance for Sheriff Tom Dart to pry that money out of the Cook County Board is to allow the Feds to put the jail under court supervision.

Indeed, to maximize his image as a reformer, Dart could urge the Federal Court to take over the jail.

Part 1 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Sheriff Tom Dart’s Goals

Part 2 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – 2007 Complaints of Physical Abuse to Inmates

Part 3 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Causes of and Cures for Physical Abuse

Part 4 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Medical Care

Part 5 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Access to Medical and Dental Care

See Part 2.

Last week was so busy I didn’t get to read the three daily newspapers that land on my driveway every morning.

When I picked up the Wednesday Sun-Times, I saw Mark Brown’s column entitled,

Apparently Brown sat in on a weekly meeting that new Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart has with the heads of various parts of the jail.

Apparently it wasn’t a pretty picture, but not as bad as it could have been.

I am sure one of the eternal problems of a Cook County Sheriff is lack of adequate funds to do what the sheriff things should be done.

Certainly the devastating Federal report, about which I wrote below, convincingly show major improvements are needed. Those changes will require lots of money.

The best chance for Sheriff Tom Dart to pry that money out of the Cook County Board is to allow the Feds to put the jail under court supervision.

Indeed, to maximize his image as a reformer, Dart could urge the Federal Court to take over the jail.

Part 1 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Sheriff Tom Dart’s Goals

Part 2 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – 2007 Complaints of Physical Abuse to Inmates

Part 3 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Causes of and Cures for Physical Abuse

Part 4 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Medical Care

Part 5 – Pervasive Problems at Cook County Jail – Access to Medical and Dental Care

See Part 2.