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Cook County Illinois Sheriff's Department
Cook County - County Jail - Illinois
Cook County Jail

Name:  Cook County Department of Corrections (Chicago, Illinois)

Prison System: Cook County, Illinois

Status: Active; open since January 15, 1831 

Location: Chicago, Cook County, Illinois

Address:

2700 South California Avenue, Chicago, Illinois 60608

Mailing Address                  

Cook County Jail
P. O. Box 089002
Chicago, IL 60608

Inmate Mailing Address

Detainee Name and I.D. Number
Cook County Jail
P. O. Box 089002
Chicago, IL 60608

Phone Number

773-674-7100; inmates cannot receive phone calls

Fax Number:  Inmates cannot receive faxes

Warden: Sheriff Tom Dart  

Offender Gender: Both

Email: Inmates cannot receive emails

Security Level: Pretrial confinement; all security levels with offenders who have not been classified.   Post-conviction confinement is for inmates who have been convicted misdemeanor or low-level felony offenses and have received a sentence of up to one year in jail.  Post-conviction offenders with longer sentences are transferred to either federal or state prison facilities. 

The Cook County Department of Corrections is one of the nation’s largest single-site pre-detention facilities.  Physically, the facility is 96 acres.  It admits approximately 100,000 detainees each year and has an average daily population of 9,000 inmates.

Number of Inmates: An average daily population of more than 9,000 inmates

Employees:  The Cook County Jail employs more than 3800 employees 

Both a pretrial detention center, a post-conviction detention center for misdemeanor offenders, and a holding facility for inmates who have been convicted and may be serving time at other facilities but need to appear at Cook County-area courts, the Cook County Jail is a sprawling facility with a huge and ever-changing inmate population.

Facts:

-96 acres in size making it one of the largest county jails in the U.S.
-admits roughly 100,000 detainees per year
-facility cover the length of 8 city blocks
-there are a total of 10 housing divisions in additional to 3 special service divisions.

History

The Cook County Jail has an extremely colorful history.  It began as a stockade, but the growing population of Chicago quickly made it clear that a more permanent facility would be necessary.  Since that time, the facility has continued to grow to keep up with the county’s growing population and expanding criminal justice system.

Inmate Population

Because the Cook County Jail is a pretrial detention facility as well as a post-conviction facility, inmates from all security classifications may be found in the jail.

Living Conditions

Unfortunately, the Cook County Jail has a history of deplorable living conditions, which resulted in the United States Department of Justice finding that the inmates’ Eighth Amendment right prohibiting cruel and unusual punishment had been violated by the facility.  The Department of Justice found that the Cook County Jail failed to protect inmates from harm by other inmates or staff; failed to adequately protect at-risk inmates from committing suicide; had sanitation problems; was not fire-safe; and did not provide adequate medical or mental health care.  Underlying allegations by prisoners allege: that officers at Cook County Jail beat prisoners, that prisoners have to sleep on the floors due to overcrowding, rodent infestations, poor food quality, invasive strip searches, failure to dispense medications, and invasive and painful STD testing.  Living conditions at the jail remain dangerous; in July 2016 three inmates and a guard were transported to the hospital for treatment for injuries received in a jail fight.

Prison Programs

Most of the inmates at Cook County Jail are pre-trial detainees, therefore they do not have access to many prison programs.  However, each of the 10 divisions at the facility have a detainee visiting area, dispensary, law library, chapel or multi-purpose room, staff office, and day room. 

Famous Inmates

There have been a number of nationally known inmates who have spent time at Cook County Jail.  In fact, almost all well-known Chicago area criminals have probably spent time at the facility.  The best known of those inmates include: John Wayne Gacy, Al Capone, Larry Hoover, the Chicago Seven, Richard Speck, Jeff Fort, Tony Accardo, and Frank Nitti.  The Cook County Jail was also referenced by Piper Kerman in Orange is the New Black, where she stayed at the facility as a post-conviction detainee while waiting to testify in a criminal trial. 

Cook County Inmate Search

If you are trying to locate a family member or loved one, the Cook County Jail uses an inmate locator that can locate inmates incarcerated at the facility. This system will provide the crimes the individual is charged for, mugshot, and bail information if available.

Send Money to an Inmate / Commissary 

Cook County Jail provides numerous ways to put money in inmate trust accounts.  Inmates can purchase up to $100 worth of clothing and supplies and an additional $100 worth of food items. 

Visitation

Cook County Jail just instituted a policy where all adult visitors (18 years of age and older) must complete a visitor application and be approved for visitation prior to visiting the facility.  Please visit the visitor website to submit an official application.  The website also contains additional visitor information.    Visitation is by housing division, which can change.  You can call 773-674-5245 or check online to find out where an inmate is located. Furthermore, each housing division allows visitation for certain inmates on certain days.  Generally, there are no visits on Fridays, a visitation period from 8:00AM-1:00PM and from 3:30-8:30PM Saturdays and Sundays, and visitation Monday through Thursday from 3:30PM-8:30PM.  However, check to see which day your inmate is allowed visitors.

There are currently 13 different divisions where prisoners are housed.  You will need to find out the exact location as the visitation hours are based on that.

Division 1 | Division 2 Division 3 Annex
Division 4  | Division 5Division 6 
Division 8 RTUCermak Hospital 
Division 9  | Division 10Division 11
Division 14V.R.I.C.

Receive calls from an Inmate

Inmates at Cook County Jail can use inmate trust funds to buy phone cards to place phone calls.  You can also set up an inmate phone account

Cook County Jail Data & Statistics:

Average Daily Population 90
Total Confined 70
Total Confined Males Aged 18+ 63
Total Confined Females Aged 18+ 7
Full-Time Prison Employees 30
Number of Inmates on Work Assignment 24
*statistical information was retrieved from latest available copy of prison data provided by census bureau
 


Year Built or Opened: 1929 Warden or Supervisor: Thomas J. Dart Daily Inmate Count: 9,000 Total Capacity: 10,000 Security Level(s): minimum - maximum

2700 S California Ave
Chicago, IL 60608

Phone Number(s): (773) 674-5245

2700 S California Ave
Chicago, IL 60608