Cook County Jail

161 | A History of Cook County Jail

For this week’s episode, we share a conversation between Melanie D. Newport and Anne Gray Fisher. They talk about the history of Cook County Jail- the largest facility in the country. Melanie D. Newport is an Assistant Professor of US History at the University of Connecticut-Hartford. Her work explores the criminal justice system in the…

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82 | Conscious in Confinement

In this episode, we share a phone call and three short essays from Timothy Smith. Smith spoke to us from inside Cook County Jail, the most recent place he has been held over ten years in custody. Timothy has been at a several institutions around Illinois, and describes entering prison and specifically Menard Correctional Center….

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13 | Hunger and Work Strikes

We learn about the Chicago Community Bond Fund, a group that bails people out of Chicago’s Cook County Jail and strives to end pretrial detention. James Kilgore speaks with Albert Woodfox and Robert King of the Angola 3. Rounding out this week’s episode, we have part of Kilgore’s interview with Sekou Kambui, a longtime New…

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