The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "Cook County" ...
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Grandma can’t accept your call: Inmates disconnected by phone costs
This series of stories started with a simple question. Why does it cost so much for inmates to make calls from the Cook County Jail? In the course of my reporting on criminal and legal affairs for WBEZ, the public radio station in Chicago, I had heard numerous people complain about the high cost of phone calls. Some digging confirmed that the price could be as high as $15.00 for 15 minute calls. Three or four calls a week at that price gets expensive even for financially stable middle class folks, but the people paying these fees were mostly the poorest residents in Chicago. That’s because most of the people in the Cook County Jail are there because they and their families couldn’t afford to post bond of a couple thousand, or sometimes even just hundreds of dollars to secure their freedom while awaiting trial. They are the people who are least able to afford such expensive phone calls. A few FOIA requests revealed the scheme (and scheme is the right word… I just looked it up: a crafty or secret plan of action). Cook County gave an exclusive phone contract to a company called Securus Technologies. Securus charged inflated phone rates and their exclusive deal in the jail meant inmates wanting to talk to their families or arrange their defense had no choice but to pay the rates. Securus then paid back to the county 57½ percent of the revenue from the calls. It netted the county about $4 million a year. Securus wouldn’t tell us their take but I imagine they did alright too. All of the money was coming out of the pockets of the poorest residents in Cook County, people who couldn’t even afford to post bond for their freedom. (As an aside, this isn’t just an issue in Cook County. According to its website Securus provides the phone systems for 850,000 inmates in 2,200 jails and prisons across the country.) Our reporting shed public light on a hugely profitable contract that no one was paying attention to. We documented the lives of the impoverished people getting hammered by the policy and then turned the hammer on the local elected officials to ask them to explain how this was a good policy. The public officials responded in a way that once again proved the genius of democracy. Our efforts and the results are detailed in subsequent answers below.
Tags: prison inmates; phone calls; fees
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Campus Security
ChicagoTalks reporters found only a handful of the 63 colleges and universities in Cook County are following an Illinois law -- the Campus Security Enhancement Act of 2008 (SB 2691) -- aimed to make campuses safe. Under the law, colleges and universities are required to create all-hazard emergency and violence prevention plans, along with threat assessment teams and violence prevention committees. The schools are also required to hold annual security trainings. ChicagoTalks reporters contacted, often repeatedly, every public and private, two and four-year college and university in Cook County, and determined that 11 schools appear to be violating the law, while 45 schools provided conflicting or incomplete information -- or no information at all. Reporters found just seven schools in compliance.
Tags: campus security; Cook County; violence prevention; colleges; universities
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17
Illinois is one of 12 states in the U.S. in which a minor who faces a felony charge is prosecuted in the "adult penal system." In this Chicago Reporter investigation, Angela Caputo reveals that the majority of minors charged with a felony and prosecuted as an adult are black 17-year-old males. She also reveals that most of the cases involve nonviolent crimes like "low-level drug sales" and "property theft."
Tags: felony; Chicago; Austin; Humboldt Park; North Lawndale; Roseland; West Englewood; Cook County; McArthur Foundation
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"Breaking Down Bond Court"
In Cook Country, very little attention is given to bond hearings. However, the hearings can have a major impact on the defendant's life and "have ripple effects for taxpayers and communities." In this story, reporters Tony Arnold and Cate Cahan reveal "rushed hearings," the errors that occur and the "drastic consequences" they have for the defendants and their families.
Tags: bond; bail; Cook County; Chicago; judge; electronic monitoring; lawsuit
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Jailhouse Shock
A rural Illinois jail faces allegations of Taser use from detainees who say they were tortured with them. The investigation found that at this jail, Taser use goes extremely unreported. Those that did report their Taser use admitted to using the Tasers when detainees were restrained by handcuffs or strapped into a chair.
Tags: Taser; handcuffs; jails; prisons; Cook County Jail; Taser gun
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A Renter's Nightmare
"Banks are illegally evicting Chicago tenants when their landlords foreclose, with the unwitting assistance of the Cook County Sheriff's Office."
Tags: paperwork; fraud; eviction; realty; Realtor; mortgage service;
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Buying off the Boss
Employees in Illinois are found to give political contributions to candidates that may be their future employer.
Tags: Cook County State Attorney; patronage; lobbyist; Anita Alvarez; Tony Peraica;
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Defending the Damned
"Defending the Damned takes a in inside look at a group of public defenders who normally operate in the shadows of the criminal justice system. The book examines the Murder Task Force of the Cook County Public Defender's Office, a unit that handles only homicide cases. The main narrative is a behind-the-scenes account of how one of those lawyers represents a man accused of killing a Chicago Police Officer in a highly controversial case."
Tags: public defenders; lawyers; homicide; criminal justice system; prisons; Cook County; courts;
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Who Took Land From Our Churches?
Cook County's District attorney, along with his associates, were found to have taken 60 parcels of land that were owned by 20 churhces, businesses and not-for-profit organizations. They were unaware the land was even pirated from them until the report came out in the Chicago Tribune.
Tags: fraud; realty; land; ownership; property; steal; stolen; acre
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Police Torture in Chicago
A police torture ring existed in Chicago for many years after a 16-year period of ongoing coverage in the Chicago Reader. It turns out that Cook County state's authority, along with mayor Richard M. Daley, allowed the ring to continue for decades.