JM: How long was your sentencing for? Rachel: 6 years Jason: None..I was held in cook county for about 3
days, in the worst conditions I have ever seen..
My name was Mother F*er, ( sorry for the
profanity) but this is what I was called by
EVERY GUARD. Male or Female. I was complyed with
every reguest as a gentle with respect to
everyone. Kat: Thirty Days there but charges were dropped and I
was released after three days because I paid off
bad checks. JM Advice: Following conviction the judge may either make a decision on
the spot or require a PSI (pre-sentence investigation). A PSI is a
investigative process aimed at determining the optimal
incarceration time frame for you and your crime. They will
consider various things such as your involvement in the crime,
your overall threat to the community and the impact of your
crime(s) on victims.
You can sit in the Cook County Jail waiting for a trial for a felony
and in this case you can be in here for as long as it takes for you to
have a trial. If you've been charged with a felony, though, you will
be transferred to a prison. Cook County Jail only houses inmates
waiting for trial or those who have been convicted of
misdemeanors.
If you are
sentenced on multiple charges pay attention carefully to whether
your sentences will run "consecutively" or "concurrently." If they
run consecutively you can add the sentences together to find out
your total sentence - if they are concurrent you will only actually
serve one sentence.
So, for instance, if you receive a sentence of a year each on four
different charges and they run consecutively you will serve four
years (two years with time off). If you receive the same charges
but they run concurrently you will serve a total of one year (in
theory you are serving all of the sentences at the same time). Brian: Well, he pretty much told me to return at a later date to clear
everything I needed to clear in order to get my license current
again. The whole point of me going to jail was because my
license was suspended, because there were some fees that I
didn't pay off that I needed to clear and pay in order to get my
license current again. For my situation, it was pretty simple. The
judge said, "Just take care of those fees and come back." He
scheduled me to come back like two weeks later. DavidP: Six months was the sentence, and I served half. keke: 4 months
Teabag: I have been in CCDOC 12+ times (cant remember
exact amt. of times) all times I was fighting
cases in court. Longest stay in CCDOC was 18
months back in 2001 Crystal: Two years. Edward: 6 Months for contempt of court.no day for day
just 6 months isaac: 60 days Lucky: 60 days county time. Kathy: 3 years Lisa: I was not sentence I had was only being hold at
the county for lake county Indaina to come
expedite me back there because of a warrant. Apache: total 28 years Janet: I HAVE SPENT 1 DAY THERE ALL THE WAY UP TO 6
MONTHS. Ron: 30 days Ryan: Two years. Laetia: Was never sentenced as the STATE OF Illinois had
no witness or video tape. Dennis: One year IDOC, one year parole. Laura: 2 years Supervision Fernando: my sentencing was 30 days,but it was time served Gail: 90 days in a treatment center,2 1/2 years probation
and $1000 restitution....This was after the initial
time I had already spent waiting for trial and to
find me a bed in a treatment center which was a
couple of months George: One year but I was out in 6 months. Rich: 5YRS RAN CONCURRENT THE 3YRS. ATE UP THE 2YRS. Mark: sometimes for a weekend in jail and at times a
month. John: I was in for 6 to 7 months Juan: i was held for2 months onthis charge...because
of the continuance.. Erik: I HAD 6 MONTHS OF PROBATION Scott: I was sentence to 21 months in the IDOC. Jason: i was sentenced to 45 days in the county Shawn: 6 months tcs task and 2 1/2 probation Dominic: My sentence was for twelve years. James: time served which was 2 days Carl: i was sentenced to 60 days Josh: I fought my charges for 8 months. Jose: I was not technically sentenced.
JM: Did you spend time in a holding cell after your sentencing? If so, what was that like? If you didn't where did they they take you instead? Rachel: i felt sick. Jason: Yes Hour`s and Hour`s, with people trying to
steal my under garments, shoe , socks,
eyeglasses. I went hours without any food are
water, I was urinated on threatened to be raped,
beat up, and many other discusting situations.
My personal items when I was booked in were
STOLEN, when I was handing over my cash and
wallet I had Chinese currency on me from my
business trip. The guard told me he wanted it to
keep, and that I was not going to get it back
anyway. I also had 300.00 in US currency that
was never returned to me.. Kat: Yes. Horrible. NO running water -- thirty
women in room -- no food or water. Gross and
disgusting floor and walls. JM Advice: Be prepared to spend a lot of time in holding cells if you are
going through sentencing at the Cook County Jail. You will
probably be put in handcuffs and possibly shackles - the court
uses different holding cells for different classes of offenders.
Feel free to talk to the other people in the holding cells, but
don't discuss your case - anything you talk about may be used
against you in the courtroom later. Brian: Yeah, for another two or three hours. DavidP: Oh yeah. 24 hours. I actually went into the jail proper, and was
in a holding area. I may have gone into two different holding
cells, and the whole intake process took roughly 24 hours.
You're in a holding cell for a while, and then you go into another
holding cell, and then they take you into intake, meaning they
take your information, your fingerprints, and a nurse checks you
for any illnesses or diseases or anything else, and you go
through that. There's about six or eight different steps. After
you go through that, you get put back into a holding cell. Once I
got out of that holding cell, I got put into the jail proper. From
the time I left the courtroom until I got into the jail cell where I
was permanently housed was roughly 24 hours. keke: yes in the holding cell for 18 hours you get 6
hours out a day that is some horriable sh* and
its inhuman Teabag: I have spent time 7 different times in my cell
after sentencing. For each of my 7 felony
convictions. Crystal: In CCDOC you constantly are placed in holding
cells, men like sardines packed in and women less
crowded. They may be only one water fountain and
it may not work. Try to drink as much water as
possible before being taken to the holding tanks
between the jail and courtroom. You may be there
all day with little to drink except 8 oz of
KookAid if the fountain doesn't work. If you are
in an outlying courtroom you will be transported
there between 7-9 a.m. and returned between 4 and
6 p.m. If you are at 26th and California
criminal courtrooms you may spend less time in
holding cells. The cells are dirty, not having
been properly cleaned in decades with mold and
inches of dust hanging down off the ventilation
gratings. The toilets may not work and the it
stinks and is in the basement in general. 555
Harrison is newer and has nicer holding cells
with plexiglass and electronic doors as do most
of the outlying courthouses. 26th and California
main criminal felony court has disgusting and
foul holding cells behind courtroom and between
courthouse and jail. You go through two sets of
holding cells to get from jail to behind
courtroom holding cells. A few months ago due to
the fact that I won a mandmus against the State
and both a State agency and the feds are
investigating abuse, torture, rape, medical
neglect, etc. at the jail, the holding cells were
suddenly cleaned and toilets and fountains fixed.
They now smell like antiseptic and are much more
less of a health risk and place where infections
are spread. They have a major problem with the
spread of staph infections so wash your hands
with at least water but better with soap whenever
possible. Edward: It was Filthy,cramped.The correction officers
really like to screw with you.I asked a question
about whats going on cause i never been to Jail
before and one Officer got into my face and was
screaming at me also it was 9 hours before I
started the inprocessing. isaac: no Lucky: Yeah, waiting to go back to my division. Laydie: my time spent was small overnight. the guards
kept good watch over the inmates. Kathy: Yes. Horrible. Have to sit and sleep on floors
until court is over or everyone else is brought
back to holding cell for transport back to CCDOC Lisa: Yes i spent time in a holding the cell was very
nasty and the intake officers has very nasty
attitudes all of them that work in the processing
part of cook county jail. Apache: yes slow process Janet: YES I HAVE.THE ONES IN THE COURT HOUSE ARE
DIRTY,COLD AND CROWDED. Ron: yes, I was white Ryan: Every time you either are given a sentence or "cop out" it is always
a surrreal experience. Laetia: Yes. Brutal, degrading, humiliating. Other
inmates that were detoxing were not given
medical treatment. No food, water, no phone
calls. you were already guilty. no one would
listen to you Dennis: Tiny, cramped. Laura: No. Fernando: no,after sentencing i was took to another police
station and booked in and then finally got
processed out of 111 st station,and given my
personal effects back to me there. Gail: Yes.Lonely but it made me remember all the more
why I should stay out of these places and live for
my family.Fun tidbit....The guard with the cell
keys lost them and had the nerve to ask me if I
saw them(???REALLY?) after waiting 2 hours to
urinate.So I could not go back to my division or
use the bathroom.Needless to say I was pretty
pissed off! George: Yes I did.It was dirty as you know what and it was
smelly.The room was so crowded that you could not
sit on the floor.It was fighting going on in there
also. Rich: WAS IN THE HOLDING CELL TILL EVERYONE FROM MY
DIVISION WAS FINISHED WITH COURT, THEN WE WERE TAKEN
BACK TO OUR POD. IT WAS LIKE GETTING MOVEMENT &
MAYBE SEEING OTHER PEOPLE U KNEW FROM THE STREETS. Mark: yes i spent time in a holding cell. the time you
spend in a holding cell can be anywhere from 2 hours
up to 48 hours. the longest i was in a holding cell
and without clean food and water was 25 hours. John: yeaf I was I spunt timer in a holding cell over
night in its bogus first of all they got u
sleeping on a slab of concrete the air
conditioner it s on full blast no matter how hot
or cold it is Juan: yes...over cowding nowhere to sit but the
floor...given a bologne sandwich..my eyeglasses
weere taken away from me beacuse of them being
metal frames...i was blind as a bat.couldnt
watch tv Erik: YES I DID IT WAS RATHER SMALL, BUT I SPENT A
VERY SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME THERE, BECAUSE THEY GO
THROUGH CASES AT A VERY RAPID PACE, SO IT WAS
NOT TOO MUCH OF AN ISSUE Scott: Yes, it felt like the end of the world, everybody
else was either being sentenced as well of
getting bull pen (holding cell) continuences. The
mood in these cells were always dreadful. Jason: i spent about 4 hours in a holding cell awaiting
with other people charged with a variety of crimes
ranging from attempted murder, dOmestic, stealing,
drug posse3ssion to other traffic offenses. it was
an experience to say the least. the young kids was
acting if it was another day at school as they
seemed accustomed to the process. Shawn: yes you have to wait to go in a line and if you
dont ge out befor 130 you get stuck there all dsy
and then ontop of it all the judge never signed
wheter i got ptobstio or a continuance Dominic: After I was sentenced, I spent about an hour in the bullpen holding
cell. Then I was transported back to Division ten, where I spent
another week before I was transported to an Illinois state
penitentiary James: the holding cell was hot, crowed and dirty.
prisoners had standing room only and there was
maybe 60 ppl in a cell of 10 by 15 foot. one
common exposed toliet. just nasty. Carl: yes i spent a day in a holding cell and it was pure
hell no cover and it was freezing in there and i
couldn't take a shower till i got to div 4 Josh: About 1 hour. Then they took me to my unit were I
thought I was going home but didn't because I had
a warrant. Nobody said a word to me about it. Jose: I was placed from holding cell to holding cell
with about 30 different criminals with charges
from theft to attempted murder. It was very
nerve-racking and from what I hear it is different
than most jails in this form of operation.