Posted on 03/31/2020 4:46:11 AM PDT by Oldeconomybuyer
The number of detainees testing positive for coronavirus at the Cook County Jail in Chicago skyrocketed over the weekend, leaving Sheriff Tom Dart grabbling with a dilemma that runs against the very grain of a veteran lawman and former prosecutor: whether to free alleged criminals instead of keeping them locked up.
As of Monday afternoon, one of America's largest single-site jails had 134 inmates who have tested positive for COVID-19, up from just 38 on Friday, Dart told ABC News. Of all the inmates tested so far only nine were negative, he said.
“This is beyond complicated," Dart said. "There was zero playbook for this stuff."
With roughly 75% of his jail's inmates there on suspicion of violent crimes, Dart said he's been working around the clock with Cook County officials, judges, probation officers and the State's Attorney's office to devise a plan from scratch on how to keep dangerous people locked up and still create space in the jail without jeopardizing the community.
Since crime hasn't been put on quarantine with the bulk of the population, Dart has also had to juggle the daily intake of more inmates while thinking of ways to secure the health of those already under his watch.
"It's like I'm running this cruise ship, but we can't disembark people. It's quite the quandary because we know we have the coronavirus, but we keep embarking more people. And I've told people you don't have the option of just shutting the door and saying, 'We're not taking any people in.' That's where the juggling part of this is so incredible. I can't tell you how many configurations and different iterations I've come up with in just the last week, let alone the last month."
(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
Hmm...you may want someday to peruse the following on logical fallacies...
http://utminers.utep.edu/omwilliamson/ENGL1311/fallacies.htm
“US has per capita prison rate of 655/100k, highest on the planet.”
Compare that to our per capita for lawyers and judges...
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