Courtesy Cook County Sheriff Facebook page.
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The dirty little secret in Cook County, Illinois is that crime has few consequences.  Politicians avoid talking about it and the media bury the stories for fear of angering political leaders. However, Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart may now be breaking bad.

In a May 26th interview, he told WBBM radio in Chicago that he had 51 people who have been charged with first degree murder out of jail on home confinement pending trial. Fifty-one accused murderers who aren’t behind bars. Basically the city has accepted a promise by people charged with the most serious crimes to stay home and be good boys and girls. And people wonder why Chicago has a violent crime problem.

Dart, in the “At Issue” segment with Craig Dellimore, explained how Electronic Home Monitoring initially was only supposed to be an option for non-violent offenders instead of keeping them in jail if they can’t make bail.  “Inconsequential cases,” as Dart said.

However, the “absolutely brilliant” judges on the bond court have granted “home confinement” to suspects charged with violent crimes. A lot of violent crimes. Most folks wouldn’t consider violent crimes “inconsequential cases.”

Dart goes on to complain of a 700% increase in aggravated discharge of a firearm suspects in the home confinement program in the past year instead of jail. Aggravated discharge of a firearm in Illinois is roughly analogous to attempted murder.

In that same period, Dart noted a 945% increase in suspects charged as armed habitual offenders who are out and wearing ankle bracelets instead of sitting behind bars if they can’t afford bail.

Frankly, looking at the indespensible Hey Jackass, one wonders how Chicago cops have managed to run down 51 murder suspects at all. Without the support of the community, cops have only hooked up seven murder suspects in all of 2019 (that’s out of 196 homicides year-to-date).

In all of 2018, only 89 murder suspects faced charges. So if Dart’s comment (at about the 6:15 mark) is correct, then Cook County judges and prosecutors have released between a third and half of all murder suspects in the last year and a half on home confinement.

And people wonder why formerly Rahm’s, now Lori Lightfoot’s paradise by the Lake has a violent crime problem.

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63 COMMENTS

  1. Build the wall……around Chiraq.

    Life imitates art….reminds me of Escape from New York.

    Sad times for the 2nd city.

    • More like “Brick Mansions”: ” In 2018, in a dystopian Detroit, abandoned brick mansions from better times house dangerous criminals. Unable to control the crime, city officials built a colossal containment wall that is 40 feet tall and has been constructed around this area known as the projects, or the “no go zone” to protect the rest of the city.”

      A rather stupid movie, where the “heroes” are the oppressed residents of the “no go zone”. Watch this garbage at your own risk.

      • If you are getting your info off a movie of Detroit please remember some may be sensationalism to sell it. Does Detroit have issues…yes, but all cities do. Do I think Chicago is heading down the “Detroit Path” …yep! I grew up in Detroit and now live in Chicago…the signs are there. Detroit is finally turning around and it took YEARS to start rising and Chicago is sinking. I hope a miracle happens and Chicago can turn it around.

  2. Are the jails at capacity? I’ve seen this before with clients of mine, nowhere to put them. Out on short bail or PR. We see it in the winter months when the homeless, desperate to be out of the weather, pack the jails.

    • yes, and overcrowded to boot. Which is why they are being released. I have to wonder though, what the prosecutors think about this.

      • “I have to wonder though, what the prosecutors think about this.”

        Somehow, I *really* doubt the prosecutors live in the same ‘hoods as the majority of the accused.

        No “skin in the game”, etc…

      • Well, if Cook County prosecutor stats are like other places, “At home on monitor” equals “in jail” just like “pled to lesser charges” counts equally as “successfully prosecuted major charges.”

        In other words, it all looks good on paper. For promotion, bonuses and yearly performance reviews.

        In the real world, on the other hand, it isn’t good. Plea deals that let major crooks out early with a slap on their wrists. And home monitoring for the worst of the worst.

        Time to re-evaluate the judgeship of some judges, too.

      • Mark N, you couldn’t be further from the truth on your assumption the jail is maxed out to capacity. The truth is, Tom Dart and his companions have closed down some of the divisions and created programs for dangerous individuals instead of treating as a jail it once was before he came into the picture. The Cook County jail has started to become quite the joke because of that and all the political hacks that control it. Until the people know the truth and stand up to demand protection, we are all doomed while we bleed outrageous tax dollars.

    • Gotta make space for all the foid card holders who will not pay through the nose and give their fingerprints for renewal.

    • No. It’s not overcrowding. They’ve closed whole wings of the cook County Jail the 26th and California.

      • Wow, is it a fiscal/budgetary thing? I’m just an observer but it looks like the exact opposite of the way the system is supposed to work.

  3. chicago needs a very thorough look by the federal attny general. then charges filed against the judges,prosecuter,mayor. this is way beyond stupid.

    • Ummm, no. If the jails and prisons are overcrowded (as is likely) the federal judge will impose a condition that they be brought down to rated capacity, meaning most everyone goes home after a night in jail. Think I am kidding? It happened in California because the system had 35,000 more state prisoners than capacity, and that was the result. The first thing the State did to bring down the populations was to assign allegedly lower level offenders to serve out their time in county jails–which in turn had their own overcrowding issues.

      • You should read second city cop, (written by a CPD officer, anonymously) or CWB Chicago, they would disabuse you of the notion that these people aren’t reoffending while out on bail and/or home confinement.

      • There are 2 ways to deal with jail overcrowding, I’m pretty sure the Sharia way would be more effective. Not enough room to incarcerate him? OK, BANG, bury him. He’s a thief and there’s no room at the inn? Cut off his hand and turn him loose! Just saying “Oh, well … ” is not going to solve any problems. I spent a few months in Saudi during Desert Storm, and the last thing I worried about was someone stealing from me. And they spent very little on prisons.

        • My wife was killed by a hit and run driver,she was caught lives down the block from me.She is going to receive a 1 year home confinement term,that’s it.She left her in the street to die.Our laws are a joke and our courts are a bigger joke.

  4. I’ve always wanted to visit the Field Museum in Chicago. The Lions of Tsavo are there. Maybe catch a Cubs game. Then you keep reading crap like this. Think I’ll keep my money in Dixie.

    • “I’ve always wanted to visit the Field Museum in Chicago. The Lions of Tsavo are there.”

      The geek in me would really like to see the Museum of Science & Industry in Chicago. A captured German U-boat (Das Boot!). An elevator to a coal mine below. Etc. Maybe see if Former Water Walker and taboosh jr. are around and maybe have a beer with them.

      Then I remember that I read TTAG. And *what* I read about Chicago in TTAG…

      • Geoff, there’s nothing geek about going to a museum. I spent three full days in the Museum of Natural History in NYC. In 1977 after graduating from high school I drove to New Orleans to see the King Tut exhibition. Saw it again in Philadelphia at the Franklin Institute for Science in 2006-7? Something like that. Just a shame these places are in the most anti 2A cities in the country. Of course I carried everywhere I went. One thing, when they send you to the FAA school for flying while armed you learn to beat the system. Rule #1. Don’t fly.

        • You’re fine carrying in Philly and at museums in Philly. One of the few good things Pennsylvania did was enact preemption a long time ago. In Philly you do need a license/permit to carry. That is in state law, not Philly’s law as many incorrectly believe.

          Also, since our communist AG rewrote all the reciprocity agreements a few years ago to prevent PA residents wrongly denied a License To Carry from carrying legally anyway on an out of state license/permit, it will most likely need to be from your home state.

          I’ve carried to a lot of museums and special exhibits in Philly with no problems at all.

          If you want to know if a specific place in PA has metal detectors or have a PA law question or something search the forum on PAFOA.org

      • You have to keep in mind nearly all the murders are just gang members killing other gang members. Almost no murder victims in Chicago are white or Asian. Just stay away from public transportation and you will be fine.

  5. Tom “Hollywood” Dart is also mightily corncerned that miscreants accused of “petty” crime take too long for a trial. So he lets them out too…don’t blame the little brown mayor quite YET. She ran on pretty much a law & order reformer platform. And got heavily criticised for being “pro” cop(!) Anywho living in Crook County ya’know your chances of doing hard time are slim if you decide to be a thug😏

  6. Let’s just jump to unsupported inferences and conclusions–that those released on home confinement are out committing more crimes. Absent such evidence–none of which is presented–the article is just fearmongering. Just because you are accused of murder does not necessarily mean that you will remain locked up until your trial many months–or years–later. There is a thing called bail, after all, and if wifey bumps off abusive hubby, leaving 2.5 kids home alone, the odds are that she will get bail. Each of these cases must be judged on its own facts, not as a group. ON top of which, most of these cases will get plead down to something that requires little prison time (much to the chagrin of the police) because there is no place in the prison system to put these people after a conviction, and there is no room in the jails to keep them indefinitely pending trial. It is a sad state of affairs to be sure, but it is the reality.

    • Why, oh why does any pontificating on the path forward with criminality in this country always end up with liberals asking us to ask ourselves to change how we feel about violent crime, and to maybe consider not punishing people or seeking justice for their crimes? what about asking ourselves why we put up with the 13/50?

      • Yeah, I’ve seen that coming for decades, and got ahead of the power curve, I’ve already adjusted my attitude toward violent crime. Shoot the mofo.

    • Clueless? I doubt it, but back up your words if you can. It is what is happening in California, and other states are feeling the same pressures because the United States has the highest rate of incarceration rate in the world (excluding China since it denies what it is doing to the Uighars.) Look it up. There are over 1.5 million people locked up in prisons and jails, with an estimated annual cost in excess of $100 billion. Both state and federal prisons, on average, are over capacity. As you probably know, Chicago is in world of hurt and on the verge of bankruptcy because of unfunded liabilities, particularly pensions, that it has sought to pay off out of State coffers. If the county is shutting down jail space, it is to save money, as each correctional officer costs, with benefits, close to $100,000 per year.

  7. 51 are on home confinement. At this time, Only 2 can be located.

    Good ol’ Tommy Dart (never was the police) and Kimesha FoXXX (I loves da criminuhls). Keeping Crook County safe.

  8. People here are okay with releasing the most violent offenders back on the streets awaiting trial because the jail is full of homeless people???

    Wow. Keep voting for the (D’s) and keep suffering with the results.

    • Ship the homeless people to California. They have experience with that sort of thing. That should free up some space in the jails.

        • Hungry people will gobble it up. Especially when it’s the only food available. It will be like POW camps where the folks who won’t eat the slop die off pretty quickly.

      • If you read the book Soylent Green they weren’t eating people. It was seaweed if I recall correctly, but I read it in the seventies. They changed the plot in the movie for sensationalism.

    • They use “gun violence ” as a pretext for disarming the population. They need it – the worse it gets the easier it is to convince voters that something must be done. And it’s always the same “something” – more gun grabs.

  9. OK,,, time to use the death penalty,,, 30days after conviction, 1 appeal, you lose twice, fry em,,, ooh what about the innocents that get fried?,,, sad but they are called collateral damage, of course the bleeding hearts wouldn’t like that, but it’s probably their family members there worried about,,, I mean come on, everyone is whining about global warming being man made,,, heres a way to take care of some of that,, not only that, how about a breakdown on the ethnicity of the perps,, any reason nobody wants to bring that up?,,, sorry for the tirade, but the crooks are running the city’s anymore.. so, F O…!

    • So you want the same corrupt governments who created this mess and who we are trying to stop from disarming us all to decide who lives and dies? Brilliant.

  10. Honestly, IDGAF…chicago does their own thing, it doesn’t work, it’s never worked, they’re corrupt as all get out, have been for decades, that’s why they referred to as “FIB’s”…

    • The unfortunate thing is that Chicago is an overflowing toilet that spreads turds all over the neighboring states. The leftie geniuses in my town decided we didn’t have enough diversity (crime), so they built nests for these people. We are now treated to a diverse array of shootings and violent assaults on a regular basis. Chicago should be nerve gassed, nuked and nerve gassed again for good measure.

  11. Well hell, Home confinement, no more easy sex, cheap booze and drugs, damn. Now I’m going to have to go out and “work” for that sht.

  12. Sorry to say this guys but this is our own fault. When you make everything a crime, ya get a lot of criminals. We need to really reassess what qualifies as a crime worthy of prison. When ya lock everyone up, ya run out of space and then the wrong people DONT get locked up.

    like people charged with first degree murder.

  13. The jails are for “normal” crimes, where the inmates get put in general population. The problem arises when you have a “high profile inmate”(a famous person, a bad cop or a killer that has been written about in the paper and evening news). The have to take these pearls out of general population and house them seperately, which costs more than they get back from the feds and the state. It is much easier to dump these guys out, back to their home and hope their buddies do the job the state won’t.

    • Bull. It’s not supposed to be a vacation. Throw them into general population, or charge them big bucks (make a profit) for other accommodations.

  14. Fairly disgusting to see people on a 2nd Amendment site so eager to flush the rest of the Bill of Rights down the toilet.

  15. Innocent until proven guilty, Bah, that is just for “liberals”. Of course Liberals founded this nation. The conservatives fought for the King then ran away to Canada. Forget about the 2nd Amendment, that is a liberal concept. Better only the King’s men be armed.

  16. I am from Southern Illinois. What would be curious is to see what they would do to someone in Chicago who had a gun and no FOID card, but otherwise had a clean record. I bet they wouldn’t be as nice to them as the ones they are letting off. What makes me mad is they (dumb as a box of rocks politicians from Chicago) are shoving Anti 2nd Amendment laws down the throats of people outside of Chicago because of “gun violence” but refuse to actually address the problem.

  17. This is what can be expected in Cook County, Illinois where the depraved Democrat Machine controls everything in mob fashion. Again, easily described in five words: deceitful crooked immoral treasonous and socialist! These five words properly define members of Congress who represent metro jungles like this.

  18. I was going to post a link to Hey Jackass for Shitcago Crime Statistics but you beat me to it. The arrest rate of less than 10% for homicides should outrage the citizens. One would be tempted to blame this on police incompetence. However; if the judges are stupid enough to unleash murder suspects then they probably obstruct prosecution and dismiss murder cases for no good reason.

    the people of chicago should be lynching judges.

  19. It’s is sad that Tom Dart is lying to cover his ass. Then you have to ask what is the race of those on monitors because per the statistics 99% of ethnic races are incarcerated. This system define Justice as JUST US. The conditions in there are horrible most of those incarcerated are innocent per the statistical data. So the question would be which race gets to go home? I’m sick of them blaming the violence on just criminal activity you force someone in the corner and they come out fighting by any means necessary. He’s been if office how long and this is news really. Jason Van dyke who shot LaQuan McDonald so now you see who is probably on home monitors

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