Interview with Rachel, Jason, Kat, JM Advice, Brian, DavidP, keke, Teabag, Crystal, Edward, isaac, Lucky, Kathy, Lisa, Apache, Janet, Ron and Ryan
JM: How many different blocks were there? Rachel: 6 Jason: 2 Kat: I don't know JM Advice: The cell blocks are numbered based on when they were built. Brian: I'm not sure about all of them - I didn't spend too much time there. DavidP: I'm not sure, but I think there were 12 for women and men total. I
know there are a couple of buildings that were maximum security
for men, a couple for women, about four or five regular ones for
men and women, and then a couple of these medical-type wards or
buildings that I was in. keke: 16 Teabag: The Department of Corrections complex consists
of 11 separate Divisions/units. Crystal: Cook County is the largest jail in the country
with 9,000-11,000 inmates there on any one day.
There are 11 divisions. The Cook County Jail web
site describes each division which may hold 500
to 1500 or so inmates each. There are some
dormitories for min security, and high security
almost supermax divisions and Cermak which house
the medical and mental health infirmiries each
with about 10-30 inmates per unit. Edward: in mine it was 4 dorms with differant decks isaac: dont know alot Lucky: I only know a few in cook county jail. Division 1
is max, Division 2 is minimum, Division 4 females,
Division 5 and 6 are medium, Division 9 is max,
Division 10 is max, Division 11 is medium. Kathy: Hundreds Lisa: dont kno Apache: 5 houses 5 tiers in each Janet: FOR THE WOMEN THERE IS OR SHOULD I SAY WAS
BECAUSE I HEARD ITS DIFFERENT NOW BOT THERE WAS
DIVISION 3,4,AND17 THE DRUG UNIT. Ron: 12 blocks Ryan: I think Cook County has 9 divisions with aprox. 20 blocks ineach.
JM: Did they have names? If so, what were they? Rachel: i dont know Jason: Could not tell...I have a Med problem so I was
moved to a Med unit after 24 hours of hell with
about 250 other men and in the group maybe 4
other white people and the rest black or
haspnic. I WANT TO MAKE IT VERY CLEAR I AM NOT A
PERSON THAT SEE`S COLOR, I HAVE FRIENDS FROM
EVERY WALK OF LIFE. JM Advice: There are no fancy names at Cook County Jail, simply cell block 1,
block 2, etc. Brian: Not sure. DavidP: Yes, they're numbered, like Building 3 or Building 4. keke: k1,p2,m1 stuff like that Teabag: Division 1 (Max)
Division 2 (Minimum)
Division 3 (Female)
Division 4 (Female)
Division 5 (Medium)
Division 6 (Medium)
Division 8 (Minimum) Hospital Unit and Drug Unit
Division 9 (Max)
Division 10 (Max)
Division 11 (Super Max)
Division 14 (Minimum) Drug Unit Crystal: Division 1-11 and Cermak (infirmary) is part of
Division 8. Edward: mine was div 1 dorm 1 c deck, it was
a,b,c,d,e,f,g all in dorm 1.same with dorm 2 and
3 and 4 isaac: dont know Lucky: Div 1, 9, 10 are as close to hell as you can get
on earth. Kathy: Don't know. Lisa: dont kno Apache: e house b west b east i house h house g dorm f
house Janet: LIKE P1,JI,CABBAGE PATCH(UNDER 21)K1 (THE HOLE) Ryan: Yes 2j 3b 3c 3d 3e etc.......
JM: Which inmates were housed in the different blocks? Jason: Don`t know.. Kat: They did call them by numbers JM Advice: The different blocks are dedicated to different levels of inmates
(what security level you are assigned). You do not have any say
in your assigned cell block, so there's not much point in asking.
The Cook County Jail website has a good overview of the
different cell blocks and which inmates are housed there. At any
given time the jail has 9,000 inmates so figuring out which
housing unit you may end up in can be difficult. Brian: Um, you know, actually, the interesting thing is before I went to
court, they did this thing, like I told you, where they give you
these uniforms, and they actually did a strip search where they
make you strip naked and make sure you weren't bringing any
weapons into the jail. That took a long time, actually, because
they had to call your name, and put you through this assembly
line kind of thing, and then, after I was released, they put us
through a health check, where they do various things, like they
did an STD checkup on our genitals, they took our weight, our
height, and just a variety of...you know, it's almost like a
physical. I didn't understand why they were doing this, because I
was pretty much planning on getting out that day, but I guess
once you're state property, they want to keep track of anyone
that's been through county jails for reference. That's actually
why it took such a long time. They went through all that, even
though I had a more minor offense, they still make you go
through everything. DavidP: If you have to have medical surveillance, then you go in one of
these buildings that I was in. I'm not certain that there were 12, but
there were quite a bit, and it was somewhere around there. keke: the no bonds are housed downstairs in the female
division and the people with bonds are housed
upstairs Teabag: Cook County Department of Corrections houses
14,000+ inmates on any given day. Overcrowding
is a serious problem within the jail system. isaac: min med max Lucky: 1, 9, 10 houses violent offenders usually murderers. Kathy: Murderers, rapists, and such Lisa: dont kno Apache: all mixed in Janet: DEPENDING ON THERE TYPE OF CRIME AND AGE. Ryan: Depend on nature of the offense
JM: What do you remember being the nicest and worst parts about the different blocks? Jason: Nothing...you have the worst already..Nothing is
nice about it in anyway. Kat: Nothing nice they were all dirty and gross. Brian: Wasn't there long enough to really see anything nice. I didn't like
how crowded it was. DavidP: First, you want to stay out of the maximum security ones, and
then you want to stay out of the general population ones if you
can, because more fights happen there - the areas intermingle,
they're bigger buildings, and you go out in the yard and there
are just more possibilities to have trouble there. If possible, stay
out of those. There are minimum security ones that are better,
but again, you have no say, so it's not like you can petition to
get the better one. keke: in cook county jail there isnt a nice part Teabag: Division 11 was the cleanest area i have ever
been in when doing time or fighting cases in
Cook County Jail.... It was the newest Division
in CCDOC (Built in 1995). Originally built to
be part of the Illinois Department of
Corrections but the plan was scrapped because of
community outrage over a prison being built in
such a densly populated urban area. Division 11
is a state-of-the-art, 640,000 square-foot,
Super Maximum security facility. Consists of a
central core surrounded by four housing PODS,
Division 11 can house 1,536 male inmates. All
activity is controlled and monitored by a touch
screen security system. Crystal: Cermak is cleaner than the rest of the jail, but
can be tough in other ways such as food tends to
be cold and rules stiffer such as no food
commissary. Edward: the nicest thing i can remmember about c deck
was it was clean.we all helped out.one person at
a time for showers and windows.the worst thing
was some people.these people had no respect for
anyone.they were loud,lazy and dirty.c deck was
a working deck and some people would just stay
up all night and be as load as they wanted even
when you asked nicely to be quiet.that used to
get me angry and i hated it and these people
wouldnt even work.90 percent of the people on c
deck worked and 10 did nothing. isaac: all shit Lucky: 11 was clean! Kathy: Nothing Lisa: n/a
Apache: there all the same what you make of it Janet: THERE BASICALLY ALL THE SAME,YOUR LOCKED UP. Ryan: availability of drugs or cigarrettes
Could anyone please tell me what "C-Transfer" means? If a person is held w/o bond and was placed in November, 2009, are they waiting to be transferred to Statesville and then on to wherever? If they don't have a court date scheduled, does that mean they've been convicted and are just waiting to be transferred? Thanks for your help.
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My son got moved to Gateway Div 4 is that a good division? They moved him on a Friday it was able to call and let me know but by the time a got down there at 7 pm they were on lockdown. Can I visit on another day?
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All I know about cook county is that it's not a jail, but pure CORRUPTION by the guards/CO's whatever they want to be called. They should hire real employees!!!!!!!
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Upset is obviously a former inmate that even after being locked up for breaking the law thought he/she could break the rules in the jail. Im also betting they got surprised by the fact that if you hit a c/o they hit back. haha
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