Chicago Public Defenders Don't Like Seeing Prisoners Masturbate

COOK COUNTY, IL—There are more than 7,000 prisoners in the Cook County Jail, and many of them aren't happy about it. After all, depending on what crime they're in for, or what crime they're awaiting a court date for, there really isn't a lot for the inmates to do during the day—but some of them have managed to find an activity that's both personally and psychologically rewarding. "Masturbating inmates have become a common sight on the walk to and from holding cells where defense attorneys meet clients," reported Chicago Sun-Times journalist Andy Grimm. "Last week, in a letter to Chief Judge Timothy, Public Defender Amy Campanelli said her staff has reached a breaking point." "There have always been these incidents since I became a public defender," Campanelli, who has been in the office for more than a decade, told the Sun-Times. "But it’s never been like it is today, where it’s like the behavior we’re seeing now, every day, or every other day. It’s just become pervasive. We’ve tried everything." Among that "everything" are special jumpsuits and shackles, but the inmates have managed to offend the defenders nonetheless. "Of late, it has become a daily occurrence," Campanelli wrote to Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart this past March. "Male detainees constantly expose themselves and masturbate while in the lockup behind the courtrooms." It's not as if the sheriff has done nothing, though. Since January, more than 200 detainees have been charged with indecent exposure, usually to the female jail staff. "This is something that happens in custodial environments, period," said Cara Smith, Sheriff Dart's Policy Director, herself a former prison official. "I don’t know that there is a silver-bullet answer. We’re willing to do anything that protects our staff and the rest of the criminal justice system." What isn't clear is why there's so much acting out in Cook County. According to the Public Defenders Association, public indecency in jails hasn't reached nearly the scale in other areas of the country that it has in Cook County. Dart had proposed a solution: Enact legislation raising the indecent exposure in prisons from a misdemeanor to a felony, but the move was opposed—by the county Public Defenders office, which said it couldn't in good conscience support the upgrade. Besides, the increased level of charge would also have placed those convicted of that felony on the sex offender registry—for life. Beyond that, the additional charges would potentially added more jail time for the defenders' clients, and also forced the defenders to hand off cases involving the indecent exposure to an outside attorney. Dart did try to remedy the problem last spring by adding additional (male) sheriff's officers to monitor the jail cells more closely, and the incidents did decrease while those extra guards were helping out, but those guards were removed in August due to the cost of their overtime, and the masturbation returned in full force. Now the sheriff plans to use male department staff to watch over the prisoners, at a significantly reduced cost. "The sheriff is committed to working to solve this problem," Smith said. "This is a very unfortunate reality."