Cook County Jail

By approving the Justice for Black Lives resolution, Cook County will work to steer its multibillion-dollar policing budget toward health care, restorative justice and jobs instead in the coming years.

Advocates want money from the jail to be reallocated towards housing, health care, jobs and mental health.

A study by a University of Chicago researcher found nearly 16 percent of all coronavirus cases in Chicago are related to people cycling in and out of jail.

Cook County Jail is a hot spot for coronavirus, and one group is trying to prevent defendants from being sent there because they can't afford bail.

Attorneys are asking a federal judge to order the Sheriff to prove the jail is complying with an earlier injunction that requires added sanitation, testing, and PPE for detainees.

Efforts to quickly release detainees from the coronavirus hot spot, where more than 500 detainees have been infected, have created the shortage.

In total, 692 people connected to the jail have tested positive for coronavirus.

The detainee choked one guard until he was unconscious and knocked another out with one punch, leaving him hospitalized with serious injuries.

In two recent incidents, strained employees forgot to tell officers a detainee had coronavirus, putting them at risk, the union said.

Staff did not receive protective equipment until two weeks after coronavirus was detected at the jail, the deputy said: Sheriff Tom Dart "dropped the ball."

As of Thursday night, 276 detained people and 172 sheriff's office staffers have tested positive for coronavirus.

The sheriff's office will be held to higher safety and sanitation standards to prevent further spread at the jail under the judge's ruling.

Jail reform advocates say social distancing is impossible for detainees, many of whom are presumed innocent and could be released if they could pay bail.

At least 387 detainees and jail staffers have tested positive for coronavirus, according to the sheriff's office.

Amid the outbreak, a push to reduce detainee Jeffery Pendleton's bond was denied. Ten days later, he died from coronavirus.

So far, 234 detainees and 78 jail staffers have tested positive, according to the sheriff's office. "People are living like animals," one former detainee said.

Sheriff Tom Dart is using old boot camp barracks to isolate detainees as civil rights groups call for more detainees to be freed.

Twelve jail staffers have also tested positive for the virus.

Prison reform groups want all detainees who have been assigned bond freed. But Sheriff Tom Dart said that's not possible: About 70-75 percent of detainees "are in on a violent charge."

As the virus continues to spread, attorneys are sharing emergency motions and prison reform groups are paying bonds to get the detainees freed.