Department of Women's Justice Services

We are working with DWJS to implement a more useful pre-trial services assessment tool so that we can identify the appropriate diversion programs and break the cycle of criminal behavior.

The MOMs program is also administered through the Department of Women's Justice Services. The program allows pregnant mothers and mothers with young children to remain with their children after giving birth, rather than separating mother and child. The program also provides parenting classes and supportive services to the women. In the 2010 budget, in partnership with the Haymarket Center, we were able to expand the MOMs program by eight beds so that fewer children are separated from their mothers.

I have also been working with Chicago Public Schools, the Department of Women's Justice Services, and the Pre-trial Services Division of Adult Probation to develop a link between mothers incarcerated at the jail and their children at CPS. Due to the fact that a child is likely to display emotional and behavioral problems as a result of a parents' incarceration, it is important that teachers and social workers are aware of this so that the child can receive the proper counseling services. It is also important that the mother and child are able to connect consistently with each other. Bringing programs like Skype into classrooms will allow this type of consistent connection to be established.

On average, there are 1,000 women in Cook County Jail everyday. This means there are thousands of children who require special attention while their mothers are detained. I'm hoping to cut the number of women in jail by half by developing a Diversion Court Division to coordinate and expand the specialty court model into five permanent courtrooms. This will allow the County to create an alternative for non-violent offenders to the costly revolving door of incarceration.