Detention centers--whatever "cleaning up the streets"

[Carrol Cox]

I have lost the original document, but two years ago I read an account by
an attorney in the Cook County Public Defender's Office of the whole
context of these street sweeps.

Step 1. The Police sweep a given area, arresting everyone on the street at
that time as a drug offender.

Step 2. They are then taken to County Jail, where they are held to appear
before Night Court. (So they will have had a good taste of what time in
Cook County Jail is like.

Step 3. They are then taken to Night Court, where they are offered two
options:

	3a. They can plead innocent, in which case they will have to post
bail (which very few can), with trial set for 6 months or so in the
future.

	3b. They can plead guilty to a lesser charge, they will be given
probation, and can go home at once.

The vast majority choose to go home.

Step 4. Any time during that year of probation they are picked up for
anything, anything whatsoever. They have therefore violated probation.
They therefore receive an immediate prison sentence, no court trial
needed.

For Whom the Bell Tolls

Carrol Cox