An oasis inside the Cook County jail?

This article was published by the Chicago Reader.

[An] enhanced visitation center is one of a handful of projects in the works at the 96-acre Cook County jail complex. County budget records show officials have set aside at least $400 million for the design, construction, and maintenance of new and existing jail buildings through 2035. That number could grow, although few details about potential renovations are publicly available...

Community organizers, advocates, and experts who spoke with the Reader argued that jails and prisons exist primarily to separate people from their communities and strip them of their autonomy and agency. As they saw it, no such site could be trauma-informed when incarceration itself is inherently traumatic. And while some recognized the intention behind improving conditions for visitors and incarcerated people, they argued that investment in the jail ultimately reflects the county’s long-term commitment to incarceration. They called instead for increased funding for community-based services, like housing and food assistance, that address many of the reasons people are later criminalized.

“There’s no such thing as a trauma-informed cage,” said jasmine Sankofa, executive director of the national advocacy group Movement for Family Power. “And while the [county] plans to spend millions to pretty up its visitation center, communities are left with very little investment.” Cook County is projecting a $550 million budget shortfall in 2027, the largest in 16 years. Preckwinkle said in June that the county board is considering “a variety of belt-tightening measures” to close the gap.