The City of Chicago’s far-reaching surveillance camera system continues to expand and remains largely opaque 10 years after the release of a report first expressing alarm about cameras in the City. In February 2011, the ACLU of Illinois first issued Chicago’s Video Surveillance Cameras: A Pervasive and Unregulated Threat to Our Privacy. At the time of the report, the City’s surveillance camera system linked together around 10,000 private and public cameras. Today, the number of cameras in the system exceeds, by some estimates, more than 30,000.  

Although the number of cameras has expanded, the system continues to operate without any regulation or privacy or regular public reporting about the camera system. To date, the Chicago City Council has never held a single hearing – let alone adopted an ordinance – to protect personal privacy in Chicago.  

The ACLU report asked the City to institute a moratorium on the deployment of any further cameras until a comprehensive review of the entire system, its reach, its costs and its impact on privacy could be conducted. 

“Even ten years on, it is not too late for the City of Chicago to act,” said Edwin C. Yohnka, Director of Communications and Public Policy at the ACLU of Illinois. “After a decade of rampant expansion of surveillance camera systems, we need a moratorium to allow time for appropriate privacy regulations with regular reporting to be put in place.” 

“Other cities – from the District of Columbia to Pittsburgh – have adopted regulations and privacy protections; Chicago can do it as well.”  

The ACLU’s call for a moratorium were based on the lack of any meaningful limits to protect privacy in this powerful and expanding camera system. The cameras to “pan-tilt-zoom” in order to allow police and other officials to use the cameras to track people from camera to camera and look inside cars and homes in some locations across the City and enables facial recognition technology and automatic tracking. There is no public audit regarding the use and effectiveness of the camera system.    

Chicago’s camera system is multi-faceted across the entire stretch of the City. In addition to thousands of surveillance cameras under the control of the Chicago Police Department, cameras from the CTA and parks system, as well as cameras from private businesses and residences in a wide range of neighborhoods. All of these cameras can be accessed in a command center of the Office of Emergency Management and Communications. The breadth of the surveillance is astounding. For example, it has been estimated that if a person walks north on Michigan Avenue from Roosevelt Road to Oak Street, their image would be shown on a camera viewable within the OEMC for the entire duration of the walk. 

The privacy concerns first raised by the ACLU report were confirmed four years ago by the findings of an investigation conducted by the Office of Inspector General. The report demonstrated that OEMC could not guarantee that only those with authorization to use and manipulate these powerful and ubiquitous cameras had access to the system.   

“The City long has claimed that they have privacy guidelines to govern the cameras,” added Yohnka. “But as the OIG report demonstrated, the City cannot show that only authorized personnel are using the cameras and who, if anyone, has ever been disciplined for violating those guidelines.” 

“Secret privacy policies are no policies at all.”  

The below statement can be attributed to Ghirlandi Guidetti, Staff Attorney with the ACLU of Illinois:
 
“Today’s Auditor General’s report reveals a sad but unsurprising truth: DCFS is not meeting the needs of LGBTQ youth in care as required by its own policy. We regularly hear from youth about the lack of basic respect for their identity as well as the challenges they face accessing affirming medical care. 

Instead, there is a well-worn pattern for these youth: when we learn of problems an individual youth is facing, DCFS typically cobbles together a one-off ‘solution,’ but leaves unaddressed the wide-ranging systemic issues that continue to expose LGBTQ youth to harm. 
 
All children deserve the dignity of being respected for their authentic selves and feeling safe. When the State takes children away from their families of origin and into custody, we all are responsible for ensuring safety and dignity are accorded to them. Until safe and affirming care is the norm at DCFS, we will continue our ongoing work advocating for these children.” 

A woman diagnosed with opioid use disorder (OUD) is at risk of painful and life-threatening consequences if she is denied medically necessary, physician-prescribed methadone during an upcoming incarceration at DuPage County Jail. The American Civil Liberties Union, the ACLU of Illinois, Legal Action Center, and the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center today filed a preliminary injunction in a lawsuit against the DuPage County Sheriff on behalf of Christine Finnigan to ensure she’s provided with her prescribed medication for addiction treatment (also known as MAT) while she is serving time on a February 2016 DUI.

DuPage County is alleged to have an unwritten policy that forces detainees to go through withdrawal, specifically refusing to confirm a plan for people facing imminent incarceration to be medically treated with methadone or another MAT medication known as buprenorphine. Other corrections facilities – including the nearby Cook County jail – provide these medications.  

“I am horrified and afraid of going through detox while in jail,” said Ms. Finnigan. “I have gone through detox before without medication and know the pain and trauma. I nearly died. I just want to take the medication that has been prescribed for me.” 

Ms. Finnigan was diagnosed with OUD in August 2019 and prescribed a daily methadone maintenance dose. This medical treatment is critical to her remaining alive. In 2016 she was charged with driving under the influence. She expects to serve 30 days in jail, starting February 25th.

“The opioid epidemic is ravaging our communities throughout the country, and jails and prisons are exacerbating the crisis by not allowing basic medication to treat opioid use disorder,” said Joey Longley, Equal Justice Works fellow at the ACLU’s National Prison Project. “Making sure that incarcerated people have access to Medication for Addiction Treatment (MAT) saves lives, with one study showing that it decreases mortality rates by as much as 74 percent. The tide is turning on this issue, and we look forward to the day that access to MAT is not up for debate.”

“The DuPage County Jail claims it supports addiction treatment but, in reality, it unjustifiably interferes with the life-saving treatment our client and others need,” said Rebekah Joab, staff attorney at the Legal Action Center. “DuPage’s practice is an example of the injustice that occurs when the criminal legal system inappropriately and dangerously derails someone’s health and recovery.”

“Opioid Use Disorder is a national public health crisis,” said Nusrat Choudhury, legal director at the ACLU of Illinois. “There were more than 2,000 opioid-related overdose deaths in Illinois just in 2019 alone. Medical experts make clear that medication treatment for addiction is standard practice. It is unnecessarily cruel that Ms. Finnigan and others are denied basic medication while at DuPage County Jail.” 

“Nearly all Americans have been touched by the opioid crisis in some way,” said Maggie Filler, staff attorney at the Roderick and Solange MacArthur Justice Center, and a fellow with Northwestern Law School’s Bluhm Legal Clinic. “Too many lives have been lost and too many families destroyed for us to turn away from this crisis. It is a sad reality of the current criminal legal system that many people suffering from addiction will at one time or another spend time in a jail or prison. To really address this crisis, the full range of medically approved treatments must be made available in these settings. We hope that this lawsuit will be an important step in the right direction.”

Ms. Finnigan is asking a federal judge to issue an emergency order requiring the DuPage County Sheriff and other jail officials to ensure she has access to her medication.  

The ACLU has filed similar litigation and won in Massachusetts and Maine. Additionally, the organization has filed similar litigation and settled after facilities agreed to provide MAT to its clients in Maine, Massachusetts, Washington, Kansas, and Montana.

A copy of the complaint can be found here.