Polling places headed to Cook County Jail

Posted on August 22, 2019
People detained pre-trial each year won’t miss out on the opportunity to have their voices heard according to Governor Pritzker. (PHOTO:Pixabay)

 

By Dave Dahl

SPRINGFIELD – Some jail inmates will get the vote as part of a criminal justice package signed by Gov. JB Pritzker.

“We’re making sure that 20,000 people detained pre-trial each year don’t miss out on the opportunity to have their voices heard,” said the governor. “That means we are going to put a polling place in the Cook County Jail for detainees who are eligible to vote and a vote-my-mail program in every other county all across the state of Illinois. That’s 102 counties.”

Other new laws have discharged prisoners go through a peer-education civics program as they re-adjust to society; and, for long-serving inmates, get sentencing credit for advancing their education and / or rehabilitation.

Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected]

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