Parts of Cook County’s jail will be closed. The sheriff says that’s because of a decreasing inmate population.
The Cook County Jail has a long reputation of being over-crowded; so over-crowded, inmates were sleeping on the floor because there were no more beds left. Sheriff Tom Dart says a lot’s changed in the last five years and the population has been trending downward.
DART: Today for the first time in the history that we’re aware of Cook County, that we’re announcing we’re shutting down a division in the jail with the hope to be shutting down another division in a very short time.
Dart’s shuttering Division 2 and part of Division 3, freeing up a total of about 900 beds and saving about $10 million a year. He says if crime increases, the divisions can be re-opened.