WBEZ 91.5 Chicago

Inside the Cook County Jail law library, ten men were hunched over laptops playing online chess. A live video of their competitors, inmates in Russian prisons, was projected on the front wall. 

Defendants acquitted of crimes in Cook County don't walk out of the courtroom. They have to go back into the jail. The practice goes back decades.

As the population at Cook County Jail approaches capacity, both say judges should make more use of electronic monitoring.

But the sheriff isn’t backing calls for Chicago to reopen six clinics it closed this spring.

One of their lawyers says the jail conditions amount to ‘sensory deprivation’ intended to hamper the defense.

Many officials say so, but a WBEZ investigation finds no evidence that inmates freed from jail against the wishes of immigration authorities reoffend or jump bail more than other former inmates do.

Cook County has agreed to pay more than $1 million to settle a federal lawsuit filed by female jail inmates who claimed their rights were violated when the institution was repeatedly locked down.The four inmates alleged the extended weekend lockdowns in 2003 and earlier occurred while guards conduct