At least 85 people died while detained in Cook County Jail between 2019 and 2025. That’s more than a third of all jail-related deaths statewide during that time.
Investigations
Posted inInvestigations
Childcare Access Is Strained in Illinois. The State’s Slow Background Check System Continues to Threaten It
Chronic understaffing at DCFS and an unimplemented state law are leaving some childcare centers short-staffed, turning away kids and in some cases risking their funding.
Posted inInvestigations
State Standards Designed to Prevent Jail Suicides Don’t Always Work
Dozens of people have died by suicide in Illinois jails in recent years. Advocates say a multipronged approach could prevent such deaths.
Posted inInvestigations
Unsanitary, Unsupervised, Understaffed: Most Illinois Jails Aren’t Meeting Minimum State Standards
Jails that routinely fail inspections can be referred to the attorney general — but the Department of Corrections hasn’t done so in over a decade.
Posted inInvestigations
Dozens of Deaths in Illinois Jails Missing from State Records
An Illinois Answers Project analysis revealed that 63 people who died in jails were missing from state data on in-custody fatalities. Now the state is auditing its records.
Posted inInvestigations
Winnebago County Guards Fire Pepperballs More than Any Other Illinois Jail — Often at People with Mental Illnesses
Use of pepperball guns in Illinois jails is not the norm. Of the 90 jails, 11 reported using them in recent years, and 9 others have them on hand. But one, the state’s second-largest county jail, stands out for its repeated use.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
Two Years After Illinois Answers Exposed Restraint-chair Abuse, Jails Are Doing Better
At least ten Illinois county jails that weren’t reporting their use of restraint chairs to a state monitoring unit began doing so after an Illinois Answers Project investigation revealed jails […]
Posted inInvestigations
Escapes. Fires. Rebellions. Trove of Records Reveals Chaos Inside Illinois County Jails.
Illinois county jails report thousands of “extraordinary or unusual” incidents every year, but the state doesn’t keep track. So we stepped in to shed light on what’s happening inside.
Posted inCriminal Justice & Public Safety
How We Built a Database of Illinois Jail Records — and How You Can Use It to Do Your Own Digging
More than four years in the making. Over 65,000 pages of government documents. Nearly a thousand records requests and over a hundred interviews. This is what it took to create […]
Posted inFollow-Up
Illinois Regulators Propose Expansion to Self-Exclusion Program for Compulsive Gamblers
The changes could open new ways to self-ban through mail, online or through provider referrals.
