A court-approved panel of outside experts with broad experience working directly in juvenile detention centers will develop and monitor the implementation of a specific plan to improve the pervasive and continuing climate of violence and chaos for the children detained at the Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center (JTDC) under a proposal approved today by the Cook County Board of Commissioners.
The plan developed by the experienced experts will be monitored by a court-appointed Compliance Administrator who will work alongside the existing management at the facility to bring the JTDC into compliance with a 2002 agreement designed to improve management, accountability and conditions at the facility housing as many as 450 young people on a given day.
In the original agreement, the defendants had the authority to design the plan for improving conditions at the juvenile facility.
Under the new court order, the County must follow the independent experts' plan.
To facilitate its promise to bring the JTDC into compliance with the previous agreement, the court-approved expert panel will work with court monitors already familiar with the operations at the facility to develop a Modified Implementation Plan setting out specific recommendations for improving conditions at the JTDC, defining a specific schedule for compliance, and creating periodic benchmarks to measure the County's progress.
Responding to these and other concerns, the ACLU of Illinois asked Judge Nordberg to appoint a Manager with expertise in juvenile correctional planning and administration to develop an implementation plan that would bring the JTDC into compliance with the 2002 settlement agreement.
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