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Chief Judge on Track to Take All New Electronic Monitoring Participants

3/22/2025

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Criminal Justice Committee of the Board of Commissioners Meeting
March 11, 2025

The Committee heard presentations from the Sheriff’s Office and the Chief Judge’s Office regarding the plans for the Chief Judge’s office to take responsibility for all new defendants ordered by Cook County Judges to be placed on electronic monitoring (“EM”) on and after April 1.
Currently, Judges order some defendants to be placed on EM overseen by the Sheriff and some on EM overseen by the Chief Judge. new
The Sheriff will continue to oversee those placed under his program prior to April 1, but expects that by the end of September, that program will no longer have any remaining pre-April 1 participants. The Sheriff hopes to retain all or most of the positions currently involved in EM to cover his other operations, particularly correctional officers for the Jail.
The Sheriff’s EM program is generally a 24/7 confinement, with some limited movement. His program has averaged 5 new EM participants a day, or 150 a month, vs. the Chief Judge’s program averaging 3 new participants a day, or 90 per month, both as averaged over the last 3 months. The Chief Judge’s program generally restricts movement only for 12 hours, mainly from 7 pm to 7 am. Movement is generally unrestricted outside of that curfew. The other major difference is that those under the Chief Judge’s program are assigned to a pre-trial services officer, who helps provide or connects the defendant to other services.
Cook County Judges will continue to determine what restrictions on movement will be applicable to all those placed on EM. The Chief Judge’s office is expecting to have many more people on 24/7 restrictions than currently, along with the expected additional 900 EM participants to be added over the coming 6 months that would have previously gone to the Sheriff’s program. The Chief Judge’s office is planning to assign pre-trial officers to all of these new participants.
As a result, the Chief Judge is anticipating needing up to 153 new employees: 66 to 83 new people in the Home Confinement Unit (which monitors EM) and 54 to 79 new people for the Pre-Trial Services Unit over the coming months. In addition, the current space for the Home Confinement Unit is not sufficient for the necessary increase. The process has started to look for a new, larger space. Also, it is anticipated that more support, such as capital and technology, will be needed by the Chief Judge’s Office.

The Chief Judge’s Office has a 4-Phase Implementation Plan to accomplish this:

Feb. thru May, 2025: On-boarding of around 25 new employees, which are currently provided for in the Chief Judge’s budget, and identification of the new space for the Home Confinement Unit.
June thru Augusti 2025: Onboarding of 2 new classes (approximately 25 each) of employees; promotions to add additional supervisors; ready and move into new space for Home Confinement Unit; develop new reporting structure.
September thru November, 2025: Onboarding of another class and more promotions to supervisors; implement reporting structure.
December 2025 thru May 2026: Onboard 3 more classes to be fully staffed.

Also appearing at the meeting was Cara Smith, the Director of the Illinois Office of Pre-Trial Services.

She explained that the office had recently received the request from Cook County for the 153 new positions and is reviewing that now.
This will necessitate amending that Office’s proposed budget for the State’s new fiscal year that begins July 1, but the Office has already alerted State lawmakers. Comm. Britton told her not to hesitate to contact the County Board if it needed to lobby the State for the needed money.

A representative of the State’s Attorney also spoke and said that that Office was looking forward to more information about the transfer of EM responsibilities from the Sheriff to the Chief Judge.

The Commissioners had many questions:

Commissioner Degnen received assurances that the Chief Judge’s Office would continue to report information about EM on the web site, such as numbers of those on EM and the types of charged crimes, as is done now. During public comments, a representative from Appleseed’s Center for Fair Courts had expressed strong support for the Chief Judge’s Office taking over responsibility for all EM, but had raised a concern about obtaining information since the Chief Judge is not subject to the Open Records Act.
Commissioner Britton was told that if the Chief Judge’s Office found a defendant had violated the EM conditions, the local police would be called. That defendant would be brought before the judge handling the case to determine if the conditions had indeed been violated, and if appropriate, the judge could order confinement in Jail. In that case the Sheriff’s Office would take the defendant into custody.
In response to Comm. Lowry, the Office of the Chief Judge estimated that an additional $10 M would be needed this fiscal year.
Comm. Anaya and Daley were assured that the unions under the Chief Judge are fine with the changes: the duties of the employees will not be changing; only the number of employees – an increase in those union jobs. The Sheriff similarly is talking to the unions representing his employees.
Responding to Comm. Anaya and Quezada, it was explained that the Chief Judge’s Office has already been added to the Sheriff’s contract for obtaining places to stay for those on EM as necessary, and that the equipment the Sheriff is using for EM can be transferred to the Chief Judge.

Observer: Priscilla Mims

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Committees of the Cook County Board Hear Reports and Take Action at Meetings on March 11 and 12

3/22/2025

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Health and Hospital Committee Meeting
March 11, 2025
Following are some of the details from the presentations and reports presented to the Committee:

Cook County Public Health (CCDPH) 1st Quarter 2024-25 Report (Item 25-1251): Dr. Kiran Joshi, Interim COO focused on program and policy initiatives serving youth in suburban Cook County:

Early Childhood - A map highlighted the stark differences in resources available across Cook County: e.g., access to good schools, health resources, and safe environments, highlighting infant mortality, asthma rates, and fresh food consumption.
K-12 – In 2022 28.5% of students had used electronic vapor products, a decrease since 2020. More females than males have used these products (33% to 24%), and about 41% of LGBTQ+ students reported use. Chlamydia rates were highest among 15-24 year olds and is a major public health concern. About 34% of students in suburban CC reporting persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness. Female rates were higher than male. National data shows a 78% increase in suicide rates among Black youth ages 10-19 between 2000-2020. In suburban CC, the rates are lower; but gender disparities by sex show that high-school females are almost 2.5 times as likely as males to have attempted suicide.
Young Adults – The CCDPH provides technical assistance for community partners in two-year institutions and community-based organizations, public education, media campaigns, and data and reports. It also conducts sexually transmitted and HIV surveillance and publishes reports to help community organizations plan services and advocate for fair polices. Coming soon, will be an at-home STI test kit to support easy, confidential testing. CCDPH also distributes free condoms via its website

Office of the Chief Judge – Semi-annual behavioral health reports thru November 30, 2024 (item 25-1340):
Behavioral health programs include:

Adult Problem-Solving Courts for drug, mental health, and veterans
Adult Probation and Social Services Departments for domestic violence and intervention
Adult Probation for substance use disorder treatment
Juvenile Probation counseling, and
Juvenile Probation multi-systemic therapy services
Goal of the problem-solving courts is to promote community safety and reduce recidivism. It is a non-adversarial, voluntary alternative to incarceration.
Mission of the juvenile probation work is to keep all court involved children in the community, where they can receive equitable, focused, individualized intervention and opportunities to prevent further system involvement.

Cook County Public Defender’s Office – Semi-annual behavioral health report thru November 30, 2024 (Item 25-1338):

This office is not a treatment provider but rather it provides consultation, assessment, and case management. It works collaboratively by providing direct linkage to service providers and other social services to support clients functioning within the community and to reduce recidivism.
Future initiatives include: Community defense centers and internship program development.

Observer: Diane Edmundson

Finance Committee Meeting
March 12, 2025

The Comptroller reported on the 2 months of FY 2025 ending Jan. 31, 2025: General Fund --favorable $11.6 M for General Fund and Health Fund on a cash basis– unfavorable $72 M. Item 25-1630. The Comptroller pointed out that a more accurate picture of the Health Fund is on an accrual basis, as contained in the next report from Cook County Health (“CCH”). Illinois currently owes $109.3 M to the County.
The CCH report for the 2 months ended Jan. 31, 2025 on an accrual basis shows an unfavorable $34.1 M. Item 25-1167.
Chair Daley asked about the impact on CCH with the Governor’s proposal to halt Illinois’ funding for Medicaid for adult immigrants from 42 to 64 years. The funding for this in 2024 equaled $111 M. However, assuming this halt goes forward, it would not take place until mid-year. The CCH Chief Financial Officer told the Commissioners that CCH expects to be able to close the gap for this year. Chair Daley asked that in the future the verbal reports at the meetings highlight this situation.

Observer: Priscilla Mims

Legislation & Intergovernmental Relations Committee Meeting
March 11,2025
The committee approved several amendments to the Ethics Ordinance. (Agenda Item 25-1324)

One amendment changed the definition of “doing business” with the County from $10,000 to $25,000.
Two were concerned with one-year restrictions for former county personnel to accept employment with or compensation from an entity if the employee had been instrumental in awarding a contract for $25,000 or more (up from $10,000) to that entity, or for that former employee to enter into a contract with the County for services valued at $25,000 or more (up from $10,000).
Another maintained the $10,000 amount for “doing business” in the section on limitations of contributions to candidates and elected officials.

Comm. Degnan asked about the genesis of the monetary amount for post-employment restrictions. Jennifer King, Executive Director of the Cook County Department of Human rights and Ethics, responded that the changes were to keep the Ethics Code in alignment with the recent changes to the Procurement Code.
Observer - Cynthia Schilsky

Transportation Committee Meeting
March 11, 2025
All items on the agenda were approved, including:

Several items for providing preliminary engineering services with different locations in the County. Some funding came from ARPA funds the County has received from the federal government. (Includes Item 25-0785),
Appropriating funds for the Amtrak Chicago Hub Improvement Program in Chicago (25-0755).
An agreement between Cook County Dept of Transportation and Highways and Illinois Medical District Commission, with the latter being the lead for preliminary and design engineering to enhance mobility along Harrison Street, identified as needing critical improvements to enhance mobility, accessibility and safety. (25-0342).
An agreement between the County and City of Evanston to retrofit Divvy stations to improve access to public transportation and commercial districts. It will provide a 40% increase.

Observer: Carolyn Cosentino

Technology & Innovation Committee Meeting
March 11, 2025

Without discussion, the Committee voted to receive and file the Chief Information Security Officer Report for Fiscal Year 2024 which provided an update on the different County areas adoption of the information Security Framework and a summary of advice and recommendations for each area.
This report was not posted on Legistar. The Observer inquired why not and was told by the office of Vice Chair Sean Morrison that the report contained confidential information and was exempt from the posting requirements.

Observer: Victoria Cerinich

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Chief Judge on Track to Take All New Electronic Monitoring Participants

Committees of the Cook County Board Hear Reports and Take Action at Meetings on March 11 and 12

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