“Arrestees not getting speedy access to counsel in Chicago”
Curtis Black with The Chicago Reporter, outlines the issues surrounding getting detainees and those recently arrested access to attorneys. City ordinance requires access to a phone call within an hour of arrest, but according to Black, that hasn’t been happening:
“CPD has agreed to put posters with phone numbers for the Cook County public defender’s office and First Defense Legal Aid, which provides free representation to arrestees through its 24-hour hotline. But a check of stations by First Defense and public defenders last year found the posters were not consistently visible.”
Black discusses this ongoing problem with Eliza Solowiej, Executive Director of First Defense Legal Aid— one of the numbers posted for arrestees to call to send over an attorney to the police station. Black writes:
“Currently, Solowiej said, CPD is violating the Illinois Administrative Code, which mandates that arrestees be allowed be allowed to call an attorney “within a reasonable time (generally within the first hour) after arrival at the first place of custody.”
Although seemingly there hasn’t been much progression forward on CPD’s end to fix this issue and breach of policy, no access to phone calls for hours, sometimes even days, is a reality for many arrested in Chicago. Black describes how crucial it is for arrestees to get immediate access to phones:
“Early access to counsel has a range of benefits, as the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime pointed out in a 2014 report. It prevents mistreatment, reduces false confessions and the wrongful convictions (and costly lawsuits) that can result, and it reduces “arbitrary and excessive pretrial detention.”