King Walker and Diamond Bynum have been missing since 2015. (Submitted)

In 2021, 521,705 people were reported missing, according to the National Crime Information Center. Of that number, 89,020 were Black women and girls. That means despite making up about 7% of the U.S. population, Black women and girls were 17% of missing person cases last year.

(WTTW News)

In the county’s electronic monitoring program administered by Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart’s office, defendants wear an ankle monitor equipped with GPS and cellular tower tracking technology. Some say the readings are not always accurate, leading to incorrect reports of violations. 

Angela Martin-Fields speaks about her mother Viola Martin, who has been missing since 2009. (WTTW News)

Black women and girls in the U.S. are disproportionately at risk for abuse, exploitation and homicide. In the Chicago area, an alarming number of Black women and girls have gone missing. Can a new initiative help find them?

A 2019 police booking photo shows Marilyn Hartman. (Chicago Police Department)

Marilyn Hartman, the Chicago woman dubbed the “Serial Stowaway” for her repeated attempts to sneak past security and onto flights, has been ordered held without bail after she was once again arrested at O’Hare Airport this week while out on electronic monitoring in a previous case.

(Thomas Hawk / Flickr)

“Doing what was done to these kids is just not something you’re supposed to do to kids in a juvenile detention setting,” an attorney for the juveniles said Monday.

Tom Dart

“The Sheriff’s Office has won praise for progressive reforms to improve and maintain the safety and security of all those housed and employed at the Cook County Jail,” says Tom Dart. Learn more about this candidate.

Thomas Dart

“The Sheriff’s Office has won praise for progressive reforms to improve and maintain the safety and security of all those housed and employed at the Cook County Jail,” Thomas Dart writes. Learn more about this candidate.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart joins Chicago Tonight to talk about the new county jail director and efforts to get mentally ill people treatment instead of incarcerating them.

Cook County Sheriff Tom Dart joins us to talk jail overcrowding, criminal justice setbacks, and what he calls the criminalization of mental illness in the state of Illinois and across the country. 

Electronic ankle bracelet. Courtesy of WORLD Law Direct.

Reducing the Cook County jail population by putting more inmates on home monitoring...but who is the county letting out? Paris Schutz reports.