Viral photo of Cook County Jail inmates shoveling sparks backlash – By Morgan Greene (Chicago Tribune) / Jan 29 2019
After a dozen days of snow hit Chicago and temperatures began their swift descent to below zero, a photo of inmates shoveling snow outside Cook County Jail with what the poster said was “no real winter gear” went viral.
Now, the sheriff’s office is trying to clean up the backlash — and set the record straight — and activists are pushing for greater awareness of challenges faced by incarcerated people during dangerous weather.
“The situation was entirely and intentionally misrepresented,” said Cara Smith, chief spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office.
On Monday, the photo was posted to the La Villita community Facebook page with the caption: “They got the inmates cleaning with no real winter gear.”
By Tuesday afternoon, the photo had been shared almost 11,000 times and had garnered more than 1,000 comments.
There are always concerns about the conditions under which prisoners work, said Sharlyn Grace, co-executive director of the Chicago Community Bond Fund. So when she saw the photo, it raised questions about whether the work was voluntary, safe and compensated sufficiently.
Grace said she later learned the inmates were working under the RENEW program. As part of RENEW, a vocational program for essentially nonviolent offenders, detainees spend six months in custody and then eight months out in the community doing demolition work to address blight in communities like Ford Heights and Robbins, said Smith.
The people in the photo were provided with insulated jumpsuits from the office, along with gloves, hats and boots, Smith said. There was also a van on-site for warming.
This image was shared on Facebook by La Villita, Chicago. We are alarmed that @TomDart appears to have incarcerated people outside Cook County Jail & shoveling snow without proper winter weather attire. | #EndMoneyBail pic.twitter.com/Hd1xwygKYP
— Chicago Community Bond Fund (@ChiBondFund) January 28, 2019
“And we work very hard to get these young men jobs when they graduate from the program,” Smith said. “I think our track record for caring about the people that are in custody is pretty solid, and we take that responsibility very seriously.”
Workers in RENEW, along with workers in the Sheriff’s Work Alternative Program, do not work if temperatures dip below 20 degrees, Smith said.
But Grace questioned how shoveling plays into the program.
“I don’t think that anyone is seriously suggesting that shoveling snow is a skilled form of labor that’s going to lead to job opportunities upon release,” she said.
Grace said she was glad the photo sparked a public conversation about safety issues faced by those incarcerated and how to fairly compensate people.
Smith said the workers were paid “nominally” — $2 for the work assignment — but that’s “not really the purpose of the program.”
Inside the jail, inmates may also be up against the elements. A tier in Division 6 experienced heating issues Sunday night with the temperature dropping to 66 degrees, which led to the tier closing and inmates being moved, Smith said.
“We’ll be vigilant about the temperatures throughout the division in the coming days,” she said.
Current policy requires temperatures inside the jail to remain between 68 and 77 degrees. The office monitors temperatures every 30 minutes, said Smith, and moves detainees if temperatures dip below 68 degrees.
“Even when there’s not something exceptional like the heat going out, we regularly hear from people that they’re freezing in their cells,” Grace said. “So certainly the heating is something we’ve heard people struggling with before.”
Nadine Ashford, 68, of Ford Heights, said she went to the jail Sunday to visit a family member and was struck by how cold it was in the bathroom and the waiting area. Ashford said her family member had complained about insufficient heating for weeks. She said she has made multiple calls to the jail about heating issues.
The highs Tuesday were expected to hover near zero degrees in much of the Chicago area, with winds of 15 to 25 mph resulting in wind chills as low as 30 degrees below zero during the day and 55 below Tuesday night through Thursday morning, according to the National Weather Service.
“Nobody wants to be cold,” Ashford said. “This is not Russia. They need to pay their debts to the law, but whoever’s in charge of the heat could be more humane about it.”
