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Home » News » Archives » Federal Court Approves County Juvenile Detention Center Improvement Plan
Federal Court Approves County Juvenile Detention Center Improvement Plan For Immediate Release January 9, 2003 CHICAGO - Young persons detained at Cook County�s juvenile detention center should experience marked improvement in conditions of their confinement after a judge gave final approval to an agreement in a federal lawsuit. U.S. District Court Judge John A. Nordberg approved the agreement between Cook County and the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois on December 30, 2002, mandating the development of specific, detailed plans to address chronic problems at the at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC). (The JTDC was formerly known as the �Audy Home�.) On any day, more than four hundred fifty (450) juveniles from Cook County are detained at the facility. The agreement is the result of three years of protracted litigation in Jimmy Doe, et. al. v. Cook County, brought on behalf of a class of all young persons housed at JTDC. County officials now have ninety (90) days to develop a detailed implementation plan for insuring improvements in basic living conditions and human services. The plan will establish specific tasks, timetables, goals, programs, plans, strategies and protocols to assure that JTDC meets commonly accepted standards of care. Cook County officials also promise to implement new hiring, training and supervision practices to insure that members of the JTDC staff can implement the agreement in an efficient and effective fashion. Independent monitors will oversee the implementation of the reforms, and have access to the facility as well as applicable records and information. Specific areas of concern to be addressed on behalf of juveniles housed at JTDC include: Physical and Mental Health Care; Social and Recreational Programming; Environmental Health and Safety; Preventing Overcrowding; Discipline and Grievance Systems; and, Security. In addition, the agreement calls for a plan to assure adequate access to educational programs for those juveniles in the JTDC. �Judge Nordberg�s approval of our agreement marks a critical step toward improving basic conditions for juveniles held in Cook County,� said Benjamin Wolf, Associate Legal Director for the ACLU of Illinois. �Many of these concerns have been identified for years. This new cooperative arrangement provides the best chance to address these conditions, working with the court, officials at the Detention Center and independent monitors.� Alexander Dimitrief, Barry Irwin, Paul R. Steadman and Colby Kingsbury in the Chicago office of the law firm Kirkland & Ellis serve as cooperating counsel working with the ACLU of Illinois to represent the children in the lawsuit. |
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