Chicago’s Jail Kept Inmates Locked Up for 218 Years Too Long

CHICAGO — Inmates at the Cook County Jail served more than 200 years’ worth of unnecessary time behind bars last year thanks to an overworked criminal justice system.

While the killing of Laquan McDonald by a cop and the accompanying Justice Department investigation of the Chicago Police Department have drawn much attention in Chicago, the flood of problems inundating the Cook County Jail have received scant attention.

The wait for a case to reach conviction can be so long that many of the jail’s inmates serve more time in Cook County than they are eventually sentenced to spend in prison, what’s known as “dead days.” For instance, if an inmate is convicted to 100 days in state prison, and spends 300 days in Cook County waiting for their case to reach conviction, they will have served 200 dead days.