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Cook Co. (IL) HOPE Court, created to keep probationers out of prison, shut down amid problems
injusticewatch.org/news/2018/hope-cook-county-court-program-halted-after-years-of-problems
A Cook County court program to keep struggling probationers out of prison was shut down this month, its state funding curtailed amid concerns about the program and the judge who presided over it.
HOPE court was launched in 2011 with $1 million from the state of Illinois. It aimed to provide intensive probation for convicted defendants considered likely to otherwise end up in state prison.
Most who entered succeeded. But the program was marred by complaints it wasn’t reaching the right population and that Cook County Circuit Judge Jackie Portman-Brown would bully lawyers, courtroom staffers and probation officers involved in HOPE court and sometimes act vindictively against defendants.
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