Constitutional Law

Government Report Raps Nation's Largest Jail Over Worsening Conditions

An extensive report by the federal government  knocks the nation’s largest jail for escalating violence, shoddy medical care and sanitation woes. The Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office detailed in a 98-page report the worsening conditions at Chicago’s Cook County Jail. The report, issued yesterday, detailed guards beating old or mentally ill inmates for dressing too slowly, inmates burning milk cartons in their cells to heat food and intensifying violence. Sheriff Thomas J. Dart objected to the report’s findings, claiming it relied on “inflammatory language and draws conclusions based on anecdotes and hearsay from inmates.” U.S. Attorney Patrick J. Fitzgerald lauded jail officials for cooperating in the investigation. But Fitzgerald said that “a culture of abuse” exists among segments of guards who beat inmates in retaliation for verbal insults. Fitzgerald added that a federal lawsuit could be lodged against the county to correct conditions. A recent analysis from the Human Rights Watch showed that as of last month the incarceration rate in America is at an all time high. Citing statistics from the Bureau of Justice Statistics, approximately 2.3 million persons were incarcerated in American prisons and jails. The group reported that the incarceration rate is the highest in the world and that significantly larger percentages of African Americans are those being incarcerated.

Full post as published by ACS Blog on July 18, 2008 (boomark / email).