Recovery Behind Bars: Cook County Jail’s Opioid Treatment Program

By Paige Tortorelli Medill Reports Every year, 5,000 detainees in Chicago’s Cook County Jail are treated for an opioid addiction. With such a large portion of its population using opioids, effective treatment has been a priority for this jail. Much debate has arisen in the past few years about medical-assisted treatment in jail. In jails […]

High end restaurants serve vegetables grown at Cook County jail

Program Coordinator Tina Bentley at Cook County Jail Garden

By Cloee Cooper Surrounded by thick concrete walls and barbed wire fences lies the Cook County Sheriff’s Urban Farming Initiative, a place where jail inmates grow vegetables and herbs which eventually make their way to Chicago’s trendy restaurants and farmers’ markets. The program has operated with inmate labor since 1994. Spanning 130,000 square feet, and […]