Colin Flaherty: Chicago = Crime Up but Inmates in Jail at All Time Low - That's How Chicago Rolls

Chicago = Crime Up but Inmates in Jail at All Time Low - That's How Chicago Rolls - Colin Flaherty (Author of Don't Make the Black Kids Angry)Commentary Video "Man, 73, shot to death while walking dogs in Rogers Park" " Cook County Jail drops below 6,000 inmates to lowest level in decades" "No bail for 2 men charged with murdering landlord found in South Side sewer" ""Same gun" used to kill two men in Rogers Park since Sunday; Suspect photo released"

Sunday, September 30, 2018 10:54PM
CHICAGO -- A 73-year-old man was found shot to death Sunday morning in the Rogers Park neighborhood on the North Side.

He was found with a gunshot wound to his head at 10:07 a.m. in the 1400 block of West Sherwin, according to Chicago police. He may have been wounded during a robbery.

Megan Crepeau Contact Reporter
Chicago Tribune
December 22, 2017
The population at the Cook County Jail has fallen below 6,000 inmates, its lowest point in decades, sheriff’s officials said Thursday.

Cara Smith, chief policy officer for Sheriff Tom Dart, said the number has been declining for some time in part because of a drop in arrests, but the biggest change came some three months ago when criminal court judges were ordered to set bail only in amounts that defendants could afford to pay.

The decline is especially significant given the jail’s chronic struggles with overcrowding. Over the years, the jail population often exceeded 10,000 inmates. At times, inmates had to sleep on mattresses on the floor because of the crowded conditions.

The jail came under the oversight of a succession of federal judges after a 1974 class-action lawsuit cited the overcrowding and other problems. A judge ended more than 40 years of that oversight in June.

Authorities credited the recent drop in the jail’s population largely to an order by Chief Judge Timothy Evans requiring judges to set affordable bail amounts for defendants charged with nonviolent felonies.

As a result, judges have been more inclined to free defendants on their own recognizance while awaiting trial. When judges do require a defendant to pay bond, it is supposed to be an amount he or she can afford — ensuring defendants are not languishing behind bars simply because they don’t have the money for their bond.

Tuesday, October 02, 2018
Chicago police this afternoon revealed that two men killed in Rogers Park since Sunday morning were slain with point-blank shots from the same gun. They believe the same person is also responsible.