Detainees sue Sheriff Tom Dart over coronavirus at Cook County Jail

An undated photo of detainees in a dormitory-style housing unit at the Cook County Jail. Civil rights groups last week said the close quarters inside the jail have made it a breeding ground for COVID-19, and are seeking a federal court order mandating the release of detainees who are elderly or at greater risk of complications if they contract the virus. | Provided

Several attorneys and civil rights groups have filed a class-action lawsuit against Sheriff Thomas Dart seeking to remove more detainees from Cook County Jail amid the outbreak of COVID-19 inside the Southwest Side campus.

With the jail headcount already hovering at or near record lows following the recent release of mostly non-violent detainees, the federal complaint filed Friday seeks a court order to release possibly hundreds more.

The lawsuit calls for the immediate release or transfer of detainees who are older or have underlying medical conditions, which puts them at risk if they contract COVID-19.

As of Monday morning, the jail population was at 4,567 — a drop of more than 1,000 from a month ago. Jail officials Sunday reported that 234 detainees had tested positive for coronavirus, a number that has grown daily since the first two confirmed cases were announced two weeks ago. Nearly 80 jail staff members have tested positive for COVID-19.

A group of lawyers filed a federal lawsuit to spring medically vulnerable people from Cook County Jail.

“The first infection was detected two weeks ago [and now] one out of every 20 detainees now has coronavirus,” said attorney Steven Weil, who is representing the detainees. “That’s an astronomically higher rate than the infection rate as the population as a whole, and that seems to be growing.”

Lawyers representing the detainees will argue their case — via telephone — before a federal judge Tuesday, said Sharlyn Grace, executive director of the Chicago Community Bond Fund.

Plaintiffs identified by name in the lawsuit include a diabetic man who lives in a dormitory-style housing unit inside the jail where several detainees have been removed after showing signs of infection, and a detainee with cancer and multiple other health conditions living in another division of the jail.

Dart, who late last month held a press conference touting the measures his staff have undertaken to suppress the spread of coronavirus, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The sheriff has said the jail has stepped up sanitation measures, and is isolating more inmates in single cells and setting up an isolation area inside a former jail boot camp that can house hundreds of detainees.

Last month, in response to petition by Public Defender Amy Campanelli, Chief Criminal Court Judge Leroy K. Martin Jr. mandated a sweeping review of hundreds of criminal cases of “low-risk” detainees — which, along with a decrease in the number of arrests and offenders charged by prosecutors, has led to a near 20% drop in the jail population.

Last week, an attorney who is representing female jail guards and staff in a sexual harassment lawsuit against the sheriff’s office sent a separate letter, alleging that jail staff were not provided with proper protective equipment, training or supplies such as hand sanitizer to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.

Dart responded to that letter with his own. “In the middle of this crisis, to presume so much with so little support, is dangerous,” Dart’s letter reads.

“Your letter is irresponsible. You, in admitted ignorance, generate unreasonable fear during a viral pandemic instead of solving that fear through informative and complete decisions.”